The U.S. Department of Transportation is fining JetBlue $2 million for chronically delayed flights, marking the first time the agency has financially punished a company for consistently failing to live up to its schedules.
Between June 2022 and November 2023, DOT determined that four of the airline’s common trips were at least 30 minutes late more than half the time they were flown over a period of at least four consecutive months, a violation of the agency’s rules prohibiting airlines from advertising misleading and unrealistic travel schedules. The offending flights were between New York City and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina; Fort Lauderdale and Orlando, Florida; New York City and Fort Lauderdale; and Fort Lauderdale and Windsor Locks, Connecticut.
“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers. Today’s action puts the airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement. “The department will enforce the law against airlines with chronic delays or unrealistic scheduling practices in order to protect healthy competition and ensure passengers are treated fairly.”
Based on data supplied by JetBlue, the DOT estimated that the airline itself was responsible for more than 70 percent of the delays to the four flights.
The fine is a drop in the bucket for JetBlue, which had a revenue of $2.4 billion in the third quarter of 2024.
Half of the $2 million the airline must pay will go to the U.S. Treasury in the form of cash, while DOT ordered the company to pay out the other half to customers harmed by the relevant delays, who will receive at least $75 each.
JetBlue agreed to the settlement but did not admit to any liability. The company said staffing and operational problems with air traffic control systems in the Northeast were the “root cause” of the delays.
“JetBlue has spent tens of millions of dollars in investment in its systems and in process improvements in order to address issues with air traffic control … These past and ongoing efforts are reflected in a large and sustained improvement in JetBlue’s operations over the last two years since the flights at issue occurred,” the company wrote in response to the DOT’s consent order.
In announcing the settlement with JetBlue, the DOT also touted its other recent accomplishments in regulating the airline industry. Under the Biden administration, the agency said, it has issued nearly $225 million in penalties to airlines for consumer protection violations, triple the amount of fines it issued between 1996 and 2022.
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