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DOT 47-03
Monday, June 2, 2003
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
Flight Delays, Mishandled
Bags, Consumer Complaints Drop in April
U.S. airlines reported fewer flight delays, cancellations
and mishandled bags in April, while consumers filed fewer total complaints about
airline service, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s monthly
Air Travel Consumer Report which was released today.
Flight Delays
According to information filed with the department’s
Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 17 carriers reporting on-time
performance posted an 86.9 percent on-time arrival record in April, better than
March’s 82.6 rate. Skywest
Airlines had the best on-time rate in April at 92.1 percent, followed by
Southwest Airlines in second place at 90.8 and Delta Air Lines third at 89.5.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights
at 78.5, with Atlantic Coast Airlines ranked 16th at 78.9 percent and
American Eagle Airlines 15th at 83.3 percent.
The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights
that were late at least 80 percent of the time. Only one flight was on this list
for April: Northwest Airlines
flight 1162 from Memphis, TN, to Baltimore/Washington International Airport,
late 84 percent of the time.
The report contains a note reminding consumers that flight
delays can be caused by a variety of factors.
The data on which this report is based do not identify the causes, only
the occurrence, of flight delays. The carriers that report delay
data will be required, beginning in June, to report the causes of delays and
cancellations to BTS.
These official on-time data are distinct from the data
compiled by DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which records delays
while aircraft are under control of the air traffic control system (i.e., from
actual gate pushback time to actual gate arrival time).
FAA data cover some of the delays caused by weather and volume, for
example, but do not cover delays at the gate such as those caused by aircraft
mechanical problems, crew unavailability or many weather conditions affecting
flights before they depart. The FAA data are useful for managing the air traffic control
system but are not designed to measure airline passenger delays.
Flight Cancellations
The consumer report also includes BTS data on the number of
domestic flights canceled by the reporting carriers.
In April, the carriers canceled 1.2 percent of their scheduled domestic
flights, an improvement over March’s 1.7 percent cancellation rate.
American Eagle had the highest percentage of canceled flights in April at
3.96 percent, followed by Atlantic Coast at 3.31 and Alaska Airlines at 1.94.
JetBlue Airways had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.23
percent, followed by Continental Airlines at 0.27 percent and America West
Airlines at 0.34 percent.
Mishandled Baggage
The 17 U.S. carriers reporting
flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of
3.59 reports per 1,000 passengers in April, much better than March’s 4.37
rate.
In April, consumers filed 479
complaints about airline service with the department, 48.4 percent fewer than
the 929 complaints received in April 2002 and 11.1 percent below the total of
539 received in March 2003.
Complaints About Treatment of
Disabled Passengers
The report also contains a
tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in April against specific airlines
regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities.
The department received a total of 26 disability-related complaints in
April, 29.7 percent fewer than the total of 37 filed in April 2002 but a slight
increase over the 24 filed in March 2003.
Complaints
About Discrimination
In April, the department
received 10 complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other
than disability – such as race, religion, national origin or sex – a 50
percent drop from the total of 20 recorded in April 2002 but an increase from
the total of three received in March 2003.
Consumers may file their
complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division, U.S.
Department of Transportation, C-75, 400 7th St., S.W., Room 4107,
Washington, DC 20590, by e-mail at airconsumer@ost.dot.gov,
by voice mail at (202) 366-2220 or by TTY at (202) 366-0511.
The department reminded consumers
who want on-time performance data for specific flights to call their airline
ticket offices or their travel agents. This
information is available on the computerized reservation systems used by these
agents. Detailed flight delay
information is also available on the BTS site on the World Wide Web at http://www.bts.gov.
The Air Travel Consumer Report
can be found on DOT’s World Wide Web site at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov.
It is available in “pdf” and Microsoft Word format.
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