The Department of Transportation has announced what it’s calling the largest — by a long shot — financial penalty for violations of rules demanding consumer protection. Led by Biden pick Pete Buttigieg, the department imposed this penalty on Southwest Airlines in connection to widely reported problems in the airline’s operations during the 2022 holiday season — problems that produced a massive number of delays and cancellations, stranding many travelers.
The fines against Southwest total $140 million, though the company is not obligated to pay the entirety of this amount directly to the government. Instead, their obligations include $35 million to the federal government, a “$90 million compensation system” for future passengers affected by similar issues that will be credited towards $72 million of the overall penalty amount, and another credit to the airline of $33 million for past compensation (in the form of “points” in the airline’s loyalty program) provided to affected passengers.
Political adversaries of the Biden administration have repeatedly sought to use transportation system difficulties like the 2022 holiday delays and an infamous train crash in Ohio as political cudgels against the president’s team. Fox News, for instance, aired claims directly holding Buttigieg somehow responsible for Southwest’s problems.
The key factors cited by the Transportation Department in issuing these penalties against Southwest included that the company was under obligatory standards of customer service that it did not meet when the cancellations took over their flight offerings. The problems appeared in call center operations for customer service made available by Southwest Airlines. When individuals affected by the holiday season problems “contacted the company’s customer service, they were often met with busy signals, hours-long queues to connect with agents, or dropped calls,” the department said, calling this a violation of consumer protection laws.
The company also failed in the systematic issuance of necessary notifications regarding flight status and, initially, the effective handling of refund requests. Authorities talked up the prospect of deterrence stemming from the actions against Southwest, saying in a press release that the company’s obligations will “deter airlines from engaging in any unfair and deceptive practices against consumers.”
