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4h ago

DOT Waives Final $11 Million of Southwest Penalty Over 2022 Holiday Meltdown

Citing a $112.4 million operations control upgrade with better on-time metrics, the department signaled a tilt toward incentivizing resilience investments.

A traveler searches for a friend's suitcase in a baggage holding area for Southwest Airlines at Denver International Airport on December 28, 2022.
Southwest Airlines planes and vehicles sit on the tarmac at Nashville International Airport in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., July 30, 2025. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - NOVEMBER 26: Airplanes with Southwest Airlines sit on the tarmac at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport on November 26, 2025 in Baltimore, Maryland. Airlines expect up to 31 million travelers to fly during the Thanksgiving holiday between November 21 and December 1. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
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Overview

  • The Transportation Department’s Dec. 5 order forgives the last $11 million installment that was due by Jan. 31, 2026.
  • The 2023 settlement totaled $140 million, including $35 million to the Treasury—two $12 million payments already made—and $90 million in future travel vouchers for affected passengers.
  • DOT said the waiver serves the public interest by crediting Southwest’s operational improvements and investments, including more than $1 billion overall and a $112.4 million Network Operations Control upgrade.
  • The move fits a broader Trump-era rollback of Biden-era airline consumer enforcement, including a dropped lawsuit over chronically delayed flights and the abandonment of a proposed cash compensation rule.
  • Southwest praised the decision and said an operational turnaround has delivered stronger on-time performance and a higher completion factor after the 2022 collapse that canceled about 17,000 flights and stranded over 2 million travelers.