The U.S. Department of Transportation has taken legal action against Southwest Airlines, accusing the carrier of operating persistently delayed flights that inconvenienced passengers. This lawsuit, filed in January 2025, centers on accusations that Southwest ran chronically delayed routes from Chicago Midway to Oakland and from Baltimore-Washington to Cleveland over a five-month period in 2022.
According to the allegations, both routes experienced delays over five consecutive months, resulting in 180 flight disruptions each. These repeated delays between April and August 2022 have fueled passenger complaints and drawn attention to the airline's scheduling practices, as reported by the Department of Transportation.
In response, Southwest Airlines has defended itself by pointing to its overall long-term performance and claiming the scheduling issues on these routes did not reflect broader operational shortcomings. Despite these assertions, as of mid-May 2025, there has been no indication that the Trump administration plans to withdraw the lawsuit, leaving the legal proceedings ongoing.