The United States Department of Transportation has dropped its January 2025 lawsuit against Southwest Airlines (WN, Dallas Love Field), which alleged that the low-cost carrier was operating "chronically delayed" flights on at least two routes.

The government submitted a notice of dismissal to the Northern California District Court on May 16, 2025. It did not provide an explanation for the decision.

"We appreciate the DOT's decision to abandon its lawsuit against Southwest, which we believe is the correct result in this case," the airline told USA Today.

In January, the then-Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg sued the airline, alleging that it knowingly sold flights with unrealistic schedules. This, the Biden administration believed, amounted to unfair and deceptive practices violating federal consumer protection laws. It named services from Oakland International to Chicago O'Hare and from Baltimore International to Cleveland Hopkins as those that consistently operated behind schedule, and sought both civil penalties and a court order to discontinue selling flights scheduled this way.

In 2024 and 2025, the previous US administration also fined Frontier Airlines USD650,000 and JetBlue Airways USD2 million for advertising chronically delayed flights.