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The U.S. Department of Transportation is waiving part of a\u00a0fine assessed against Southwest Airlines\u00a0after the company\u00a0canceled thousands of flights\u00a0during a winter storm in 2022.<\/p>\n
Under a 2023 settlement reached by the Biden administration, Southwest agreed to a $140 million civil penalty. The government said at the time that the penalty was the largest it had ever imposed on an airline for violating consumer protection laws.<\/p>\n
Most of the money went toward compensation for travelers. But Southwest agreed to pay $35 million to the U.S. Treasury. Southwest made a $12 million payment in 2024 and a second $12 million payment earlier this year. But the Transportation Department issued an order Friday waiving the final $11 million payment, which was due Jan. 31, 2026.<\/p>\n
The department said Southwest should get credit for significantly improving its on-time performance and investing in network operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cDOT believes that this approach is in the public interest as it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving their operations and resiliency, which benefits consumers directly,\u201d the department said in a statement. \u201cThis credit structure allows for the benefits of the airline\u2019s investment to be realized by the public, rather than resulting in a government monetary penalty.\u201d<\/p>\n
The fine stemmed from a\u00a0winter storm\u00a0in December 2022 that paralyzed Southwest\u2019s operations in Denver and Chicago and then snowballed when a crew-rescheduling system couldn\u2019t keep up with the chaos. Ultimately the airline canceled 17,000 flights and stranded more than 2 million travelers.<\/p>\n
The Biden administration determined that Southwest had violated the law by failing to help customers who were stranded in airports and hotels, leaving many of them to scramble for other flights. Many who called the airline\u2019s overwhelmed customer service center got busy signals or were stuck on hold for hours.<\/p>\n
Even before the settlement, the nation\u2019s fourth-biggest airline by revenue said the meltdown cost it\u00a0more than $1.1 billion\u00a0in refunds and reimbursements, extra costs and lost ticket sales over several months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
#Trump #administration #waives #part #Bidenera #fine #Southwest #Air #canceled #flights<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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