The Trump administration has dropped the last $11 million civil penalty against Southwest Airlines. This was part of a $140 million fine that the Biden administration gave the airline in 2023 for its huge holiday meltdown in 2022. This disruption canceled almost 17,000 flights, leaving about 2 million people stuck in the middle of a bad winter storm and old systems. The Department of Transportation (DOT) said that Southwest’s investment of more than $1 billion in technology and operations led to the best on-time performance in the industry.
During the Christmas season of 2022, Southwest Airlines had its worst operational failure. It broke consumer protection laws by delaying refunds, customer service, and flight updates. The Biden-era DOT fine was the biggest ever, at $140 million. The government got $35 million in cash fines, and the rest went to passenger compensation and future vouchers. Southwest has already given affected travelers $24 million in cash and points, as well as a lot of other money.
To encourage Southwest to make operational improvements that benefit customers, DOT’s updated order on December 6, 2025, gives them a $11 million credit instead of the final payment due on January 31, 2026. Southwest executives talked about how things had changed for the better, including improvements to Network Operations Control that led to fewer cancellations. This decision fits with the Trump administration’s pro-business stance, which came after Biden’s proposed rules for compensating airline passengers were thrown out.
Southwest Airlines thanked DOT Secretary Sean Duffy, saying that their changes directly make things better for customers by making flights more likely to be on time. The waiver shows that aviation regulation is moving away from punishing people and toward rewarding them for making investments. During the holiday season, travelers may continue to see Southwest’s reliability improve.
