Travel Was Down, as Airlines Mothballed Oldest in Fleet

The nation’s largest air carriers improved their on-time performance in 2002 while consumers filed substantially fewer complaints about airline service than in the previous year, according to the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report just issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT). The carriers also recorded fewer reports of mishandled bags last year and bumped fewer passengers involuntarily, the DoT report shows. 

In addition to data for the calendar year, the report also contains on-time performance, mishandled baggage and consumer complaint data for December, and bumping data for the fourth quarter of 2002. 

Flight Delays

According to information filed with the department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 10 largest U.S. carriers currently required to report on-time performance posted an on-time arrival rate of 82.1 percent in 2002, up from 2001’s 77.4 percent. For the month of December, the carriers recorded an on-time arrival rate of 78.3 percent, not as good as either December 2001’s 80.2 percent or November 2002’s 85.2. United Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in December at 82.2 percent, followed by American Airlines at 80.9 and Northwest Airlines at 79.9.  American Eagle Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights in November at 73.1 percent, with Alaska Airlines ranked ninth at 73.8 percent and America West Airlines eighth at 75.7 percent.    

The monthly report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time.  In December, only one flight made the list:  Continental Airlines flight 522 from Houston to San Francisco, late 82.35 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. 

Flight Cancellations 

The consumer report also includes BTS data on the number of domestic flights canceled in December by the reporting carriers. In December, the carriers canceled 1.7 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, more than both December 2001’s 1.0 percent and November 2002’s 0.9 percent. American Eagle had the highest rate of canceled flights in November at 4.2 percent, followed by Alaska at 2.2 and US Airways, also at 2.2 but a fraction of a percentage fewer than Alaska. United had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.8 percent, followed by Continental in ninth place with 0.9 percent, and American West eighth at 1.0.   

Mishandled Baggage 

During 2002, the 10 U.S. airlines required to file flight delay and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.84 reports per 1,000 passengers, well below 2001’s rate of 4.58. In December, the carriers compiled a mishandled baggage rate of 4.91, slightly better than December 2001’s 4.96 but not as good as November 2002’s rate of 3.16.    

Bumping

The 10 largest U.S. passenger carriers posted a rate of involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, of 0.72 per 10,000 passengers in 2002, down from 2002’s rate of 0.82.  For the fourth quarter of last year, the carriers posted a bumping rate of 0.96 per 10,000 passengers, compared to the rate of 1.01 for the fourth quarter of 2001.

Complaints About Airline Service

During 2002, the department received 9,471 complaints from consumers about airline service, a drop of 42.6 percent below the total of 16,508 recorded in 2001.  In December, the Department received 517 complaints, a 6.7 percent drop from the 554 complaints filed in December 2001 and a fraction of a percent fewer than the 519 received in November 2002. 

Complaints About Treatment of Passengers With Disabilities

The report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DoT during 2002 and December against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities.  The department received a total of 477 disability-related complaints last year, a 5.7 percent decrease from the total of 508 recorded in 2001. For December, the department received 24 disability-related complaints, an increase of 26.3 percent over the 19 recorded in December 2001 but a 22.6 percent decrease from the total of 31 filed in November 2002. 

Complaints About Discrimination

Consumers registered 195 complaints during 2002 alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability – such as race, religion, national origin or sex -– a 2.1 percent increase over the 191 filed in 2001. During December, the department received eight discrimination complaints, a 71.4 percent drop from the 28 received in December 2001 but more than the total of five received in November 2002.

How you, too, can complain:

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, D.C. 20590, by e-mail at airconsumer@ost.dot.gov, by voice mail at (202) 366-2220 or by TTY at (202) 366-0511. 

FMI: www.bts.gov/ntda/oai; http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov