NEWS: Southwest Airlines Faces $140 Million Fine After MASSIVE 2022 Flight Cancellations

As many prepare to travel this holiday season, many folks we know do so with reluctance as they remember flight issues that occurred nearly a year ago.

We’re flying away!

Yep, it’s been about a year since Southwest Airlines left thousands of passengers stranded at airports across the country throughout the holidays due to many flight cancellations. Later, we found out that these cancellations were due to lack of staffing that led to unpreparedness for winter weather across the board. The cancellations and effects of them were so astounding that Southwest faced lawsuits, senate, and underwent investigation by the Transportation Department. Now, we have an update.

According to NBC, Southwest Airlines is now facing a $140 million fine from the Transportation Department after the nearly 17,000 significantly-delayed or canceled flights throughout the 2022 holiday season.

Southwest at MCO Airport

After a lengthy investigation, Southwest was found to have violated multiple consumer protection laws, especially in their failure to provide proper customer service via call center as well as their failure to offer timely flight status notifications and refunds.

Southwest Airlines

This fine corresponds with the “civil penalty,” which is reportedly 30 times larger than any other department-issued penalty for airlines that violated consumer protection.

©Reuters

The $140 million fine will go toward protecting future passengers impacted by severe delays or cancellations. This is on top of the nearly $600 million Southwest has already issued in refunds from the 2022 cancellations.

©Southwest

Transportation Department Secretary Pete Buttigieg said, “Today’s action sets a new precedent and sends a clear message: if airlines fail their passengers, we will use the full extent of our authority to hold them accountable.”