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DOT 11-04
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-4570
Wednesday, February 4, 2004
Complaints About Air Service Reach Record Low in 2003
Consumers filed fewer complaints with the government about airline service in
2003 than in any year since these complaints were first compiled in 1970,
according to the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report issued today by the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT).
Consumers filed 5,980 air-service complaints with the government last year, 36.8
percent fewer than the 9,466 complaints received in 2002. The previous low mark
was the total of 5,985 complaints filed in 1993.
The monthly report also includes data on the number and causes of flight delays,
as well as information on flight cancellations, reports of mishandled baggage
filed with the carriers, and consumer disability and discrimination complaints
received by DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. This report also
includes data on airline reports of oversales (“bumping”) during the fourth
quarter and January-December 2003.
Flight Delays*
According to information filed with the department’s Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS), the U.S. commercial air carriers reporting on-time performance
posted a 76.0 percent on-time arrival record in December, down from November’s
80.2 percent mark. For January-December last year, the reporting carriers posted
an on-time arrival record of 82.0 percent, just under the all-time best mark of
82.1 percent recorded in 2002. The 2003 data includes reports of the 17 airlines
that filed on-time performance for all of last year. During 2002, 10 carriers
reported on-time performance to DOT.
Complaints About Air Service Reach Record Low in 2003
ADD ONE
Causes of Flight Delays
In December, the carriers filing on-time performance reported that 9.13 percent
of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays, compared to 8.78
percent in November; 6.32 percent by late-arriving aircraft, compared to 4.73
percent in November; 5.43 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such
as maintenance or crew problems, compared to 4.02 percent in November; 0.76
percent by extreme weather, compared to 0.64 percent in November; and 0.08
percent for security reasons, compared to 0.04 percent in November. The
department noted that weather is a factor not only in the extreme-weather
category, but also in the aviation-system category – which includes
delays due to the re-routing of flights by DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration
in
consultation with the carriers involved – and the late-arriving aircraft
category. Additional data on causes of flight delays can be found at the BTS
website, www.bts.gov.
Flight Cancellations*
The consumer report also includes BTS data on the number of domestic flights
canceled by the reporting carriers. In December, the carriers canceled 2.1
percent of their scheduled domestic flights, up from November’s 1.4 percent
cancellation rate.
Mishandled Baggage*
The U.S. carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a
mishandled baggage rate of 5.69 reports per 1,000 passengers in December, up
from November’s 3.54 rate.
Bumping
The report also includes airline reports of involuntary denied boarding, or
bumping, for the fourth quarter of last year. Of the 18 U.S. carriers that
report on-time performance and mishandled baggage data, 15 are also required to
report their bumping data to DOT. For the fourth quarter of 2003, the carriers
recorded a bumping rate of 0.78 per 10,000 passengers.
Complaints About Airline Service
In December, the department received 467 complaints about airline service from
consumers, 10.5 percent below the 522 complaints filed in December 2002 and 22.3
percent more than the total of 382 filed in November 2003.
Complaints About Air Service Reach Record Low in 2003
ADD TWO
Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers
The report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in December
and January-December 2003 against specific airlines regarding the treatment of
passengers with disabilities. The department received a total of 27
disability-related complaints in December, 8 percent more than the total of 25
filed in December 2002 but 43.8 percent fewer than the 48 complaints filed in
November 2003. For all of last year, the department received 373
disability-related complaints, a drop of 21.6 percent from the total of 476
received in 2002.
Complaints About Discrimination
In
December, the department received five complaints alleging discrimination by
airlines due to factors other than disability – such as race, religion, national
origin or sex – down from the total of eight received in December 2002 but one
more than the total of four recorded in November 2003. For all of last year, the
department received 86 discrimination complaints, down 55.7 percent from the 194
received in 2002.
Consumers may file their complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer
Protection Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, Room 4107, 400 7th
St., S.W., 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.
Consumers who want on-time performance data for specific flights should 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.
* (Due to a difference in the number of carriers reporting flight delays, flight
cancellations and mishandled baggage data in December 2003 from December 2002,
year-to-year data comparisons are not provided.)
###
Facts
AIR TRAVEL
CONSUMER REPORT
DECEMBER 2003
KEY ON-TIME PERFORMANCE AND FLIGHT CANCELLATION STATISTICS
Based on Data Filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics
by the 18 Reporting Carriers
Overall
76.0 percent on-time arrivals
Highest On-Time Arrival Rates
1. Hawaiian Airlines – 88.3 percent
2. Southwest Airlines – 83.5 percent
3. JetBlue Airways – 81.5 percent
Lowest On-Time Arrival Rates
1. American Eagle Airlines – 68.5 percent
2. Atlantic Coast Airlines – 68.5 percent
3. AirTran Airways – 70.1 percent
Most Frequently Delayed Flights
1. Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 7839 from Burlington, VT to Chicago O’Hare –
late 100 percent of the time
2. Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 7649 from Hartford, CT/Springfield, MA to
Chicago O’Hare – late 96.77 percent of the time
3. Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 7524 from Chicago O’Hare to Fort Wayne, IN –
late 94.12 percent of the time
4. Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 7514 from Chicago O’Hare to Lansing, MI – late
94.12 percent of the time
5. Atlantic Coast Airlines flight 7535 from Lexington, KY to Chicago O’Hare –
late 94.12 percent of the time; and
SkyWest Airlines flight 6893 from Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, IA
to Denver – late 94.12 percent of the time
Highest Rates of Canceled Flights
1. American Eagle Airlines – 4.0 percent
2. Atlantic Coast Airlines – 3.8 percent
3. SkyWest Airlines – 3.4 percent
Lowest Rates of Canceled Flights
1. Hawaiian Airlines – 0.7 percent
2. JetBlue Airways – 0.9 percent
3. Southwest Airlines – 1.1 percent
###