Southwest Airlines will pay a $35 million fine to settle a federal investigation when the airline canceled thousands of flights and stranded more than 2 million travelers over the holidays.
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00:00 Southwest Airlines will pay a $35 million fine as part of a $140 million settlement to resolve a federal investigation
00:06 into the cancellation of thousands of flights that stranded 2 million travelers last December.
00:11 The government said the settlement is the largest ever imposed on an airline for violating consumer protection laws.
00:16 Most of the money will go towards compensating future passengers. One year ago a winter storm stopped operations in Denver and Chicago.
00:22 Southwest couldn't keep up with the chaos of rescheduling crews and ended up canceling nearly 17,000 flights.
00:28 The investigation found that Southwest failed to assist stranded customers, didn't provide timely updates on flight delays and cancellations, and delayed refunds.
00:36 And while the company disputes some findings, it said it entered into the agreement just to settle the matter.
00:40 Southwest previously said the meltdown cost the company more than $1.1 billion.
00:45 In addition to the new fine, Southwest will get $33 million in credit for the compensation
00:50 it has already handed out, but has promised to give out $90 million in vouchers to future travelers.
00:55 Southwest CEO said the airline has learned from the event and implemented measures to help operations during extreme temperatures.