Southwest Airlines

The US government actually FILED a lawsuit against Southwest for illegally operating 'chronically delayed' flights on two specific routes — then the Justice Department itself DROPPED that same lawsuit in May 2025 under a new administration, before it ever reached a resolution. Delta, United, Southwest, and American have all been accused, in one consolidated lawsuit, of secretly coordinating with each other for YEARS (the class covers tickets bought July 2011–June 2018) to deliberately LIMIT how many seats they offered on shared routes, specifically to keep ticket prices artificially high across the industry — not competing on capacity the way customers assume rival airlines would. Southwest and American already settled their portion for $60 million combined; Delta and United are still fighting the case as of 2026, having lost their bid to get it dismissed.

• Severity
• Evidence tierUnassigned
• Claims confirmed
• Last verified2026-08-04

Case status. Private litigation; the legal tier of its sources has not been assigned yet.

Primary source. www.hausfeld.com/news/hausfeld-wins-significant-victory-on-behalf-of-class-of-domestic-airline-ticket-purchasers-in-antitrust-lawsuit-against-major-us-carriers — Verified - primary source confirmed.

Arbitration

Standard binding arbitration + class action waiver expected (not independently confirmed word-for-word this pass); same Airline Deregulation Act preemption issue applies.

Contacts

Privacy contact. Not recorded.

Legal notice. PUBLIC COMPANY (LUV). Service route: c/o General Counsel / Corporate Secretary, Dallas, Texas — the corporate address on the SEC Form 10-K cover page is the official address of record. Confirm the exact street address on the current 10-K at sec.gov/edgar, and check the state-of-incorporation registered agent (usually Delaware; most large filers use The Corporation Trust Company or Corporation Service Company) via the Secretary of State business-entity search. A registered agent MUST accept service, which is why it is the reliable channel when a company publishes no privacy address.

Mailing address. Not recorded.