The Trump administration announced on Saturday that it would waive an $11 million fine against Southwest Airlines. The fine is part of a $140 million settlement stemming from an operational collapse at Southwest during the December 2022 peak travel season. In December 2023, Southwest Airlines agreed to pay a $35 million cash penalty and provide a total of $90 million in travel vouchers of no less than $75 each over three years.
The vouchers will be issued to passengers whose flights were canceled and their final journey was delayed by at least three hours due to Southwest's own problems (or the airline's mishandling of the operational meltdown). The operational collapse left more than 2 million passengers stranded.
The Department of Transportation said in a written order that it was waiving the remaining $11 million in fines because Southwest has decided to invest more than $1 billion in operations since the 2022 operational collapse. The fine, originally issued by the Biden administration, was due to be paid by the end of January.
The U.S. Department of Transportation said this move is in the public interest "because it incentivizes airlines to invest in improving operations and resilience, which will directly benefit consumers."
Southwest applauded the decision, saying it has successfully transformed its operations over the past two years and now leads the industry in on-time performance and cancellation-free flight completion rates.
During the administration of President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Transportation has been pushing to roll back some aviation consumer protections introduced by the Biden administration.
In December 2024, toward the end of the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation sought public comment on a new rule. The new rule would have required airlines to pay passengers cash compensation if flights were delayed for their own reasons — a move the Transportation Department has since said it would abandon.
In May, the U.S. Department of Transportation dropped a lawsuit the Biden administration filed against Southwest Airlines in its final days in office. The lawsuit accuses Southwest of illegally operating long-delayed flights.
Southwest Airlines has previously denied these accusations, saying that the flights in question occurred several years ago, when the aviation industry was facing unprecedented challenges brought about by the COVID-19 epidemic, and flight delays were mostly caused by factors beyond Southwest Airlines' control.