Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay a $140 million civil penalty for operational failures during the 2022 Christmas and New Year holidays that led to cancellation of 16,900 flights and left more than two million travelers stranded.
The fine, which is 30 times larger than any of the Department of Transportation's (DOT) previous penalties, is in addition to the more than $600 million in refunds and reimbursements that Southwest was already ordered to pay travelers affected by the holiday meltdown, the DOT said today (December 18).
