JetBlue Is Fined $2 Million for Chronic Delays, a First-of-Its-Kind Penalty

JetBlue may be feeling a bit, well, blue today.

The airline has been fined $2 million by the Department of Transportation for chronic delays, The New York Times reported on Friday. It’s the first such penalty levied by the government agency, and it takes aim at four East Coast routes operated by JetBlue that saw regular delays in 2022 and 2023.

“Illegal chronic flight delays make flying unreliable for travelers,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a statement cited by the Times. “Today’s action puts the entire airline industry on notice that we expect their flight schedules to reflect reality.”

The Transportation Department defines chronic delays as flights flown at least 10 times a month that arrive more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time, The New York Times wrote. From June 2022 to November 2023, four JetBlue routes were delayed five months straight: JFK to Raleigh-Durham, JFK to Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood, JFK to Orlando, and Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood to Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport. More than 70 percent of the delays were caused by JetBlue, according to estimates from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics cited by the Times.

In response to the fine, a spokesperson for JetBlue told the newspaper that the company has spent tens of millions of dollars on improving the delay issue over the past couple of years. He added that there have been “significant operational improvements,” and that problems with air traffic control had contributed to the disruptions in Florida and the Northeast.

The $2 million will be split between affected passengers and the government, The New York Times wrote. JetBlue passengers who experienced the delays will get at least $75 each, and $1 million will be given in cash to the U.S. Treasury.

The penalty adds to JetBlue’s woes over the past couple of years: Since the pandemic, the airline has had a difficult time returning to profitability, the Times noted, and in the past few months it’s cut routes performing below expectations. As it tries to court passengers, JetBlue is planning to add first-class service to domestic trips and open lounges at airports.

While those perks may be nice, they don’t help all that much if you can’t get to your destination in a timely manner.