Complaints about airline service filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) dropped in August, according to the department's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report released Wednesday. DOT's Aviation Consumer Protection Division received 517 complaints from consumers about airline service in August, down 29.9 percent from the 737 complaints filed in August 2002 and 16.1 percent fewer than the total of 616 received in July 2003.

The monthly report also includes data on flight delays and cancellations, reports of mishandled baggage filed with the carriers, and consumer disability and discrimination complaints received by the Aviation Consumer Protection Division.

Flight Delays

According to information filed with the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 17 carriers reporting on-time performance posted a 79.0 percent on-time arrival record in August, down slightly from July's 79.7 percent rate. SkyWest Airlines had the highest on-time rate in August at 89.8 percent, followed by Southwest Airlines in second place at 85.8 and United Airlines third at 81.7. Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 68.1 percent, with AirTran Airways ranked 16th at 68.8 percent and US Airways 15th at 71.7 percent.

The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In August, the most frequently delayed flight was AirTran flight 234 from Atlanta to Newport News, VA, late 93.55 percent of the time. Atlantic Southeast flight 4153 from Atlanta to Gainesville, FL, was the second most-delayed flight, arriving late 88.00 percent of the time, and Atlantic Southeast flight 4142 from Atlanta to Fort Walton Beach, FL, was third most-delayed at 86.67 percent.

The report contains a note reminding consumers that flight delays can be caused by a variety of factors. The carriers that report on-time flight information have been required to also report the causes of delays and cancellations beginning with June's data. Once the Transportation Security Administration, DOT's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and BTS complete testing and validating this causal information to ensure its accuracy, the data will be included in the Air Travel Consumer Report.

These official on-time data are distinct from the data compiled by the 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 August, the carriers canceled 1.6 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, up slightly from July's 1.4 percent cancellation rate.

• Atlantic Coast Airlines had the highest percentage of canceled flights in August at 3.3 percent, followed by
• American Eagle Airlines at 3.2 percent and
• ExpressJet Airlines at 2.8 percent.
• JetBlue Airways had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.4 percent, followed by
• Continental Airlines at 0.6 percent and
• America West Airlines at 0.7 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

The 17 U.S. carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.61 reports per 1,000 passengers in August, higher than July's 4.37 rate.

Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers

The report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in August against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The department received a total of 39 disability-related complaints in August, 13.3 percent fewer than the total of 45 filed in August 2002 but 11.4 percent more than the 35 recorded in July 2003.

Complaints About Discrimination

In August, the department received eight complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability - such as race, religion, national origin or sex - down 42.9 percent from the total of 14 recorded in August 2002 and one-third fewer than the 12 received in July 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 reminds 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.

FMI: www.bts.gov, http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov