The US Department of Transportation announced on Monday that it had hit Southwest Airlines Co. with a $140 million fine for last year’s epic December holiday meltdown — a figure that the agency is billing as a record penalty 30 times larger than any other consumer protection violation.

“The fine is the price of failure for Southwest not having made the investments in the technologies, systems and people it should have made a long time ago,” airline analyst Henry Harteveldt told me. It’s worth noting, however, that despite the Transportation Department patting itself on the back for the size of the penalty, the figure is inflated; it includes things the company has already paid for, like $33 million in points that Southwest issued passengers who were caught up in the travel nightmare.

QOSHE - Southwest’s Pilots Deal Trumps Its $140 Million Fine - Beth Kowitt
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Southwest’s Pilots Deal Trumps Its $140 Million Fine

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20.12.2023

The US Department of Transportation announced on Monday that it had hit Southwest Airlines Co. with a $140 million fine for last year’s epic December holiday meltdown — a figure that the........

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