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Southwest Airlines fined $1.6 million for stranding passengers

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 waits to take off at Chicago's Midway International Airport as another lands. Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay a $1.6-million fine for stranding passengers on delayed flights at Midway on Jan. 1 and 2, 2014.
(Charles Rex Arbogast / Associated Press)
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Southwest Airlines has agreed to pay a $1.6-million fine, the largest penalty so far for stranding passengers on a delayed flight for more than three hours.

The fine was imposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation over the storm-related delays of 16 Southwest flights on Jan. 1 and 2, 2014, at Chicago Midway International Airport.

A law that took effect in 2009 prohibits U.S. airlines from stranding passengers on a delayed flight for more than three hours without giving them the option of getting off.

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During the heavy Chicago storm, Southwest had 16 flights that were delayed as long as four hours on the airport tarmac, according to federal records.

According to a consent agreement signed by the airline, delays caused by the storm were aggravated by the malfunction of a crew-scheduling system, leading to a shortage of staff.

Before the penalty against Southwest, the largest civil penalties assessed by the Department of Transportation for violating the tarmac delay rules were $1.1 million against United Airlines in 2012 and $900,000 against American Eagle in 2011.

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To read more about travel, tourism and the airline industry, follow me on Twitter at @hugomartin.

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