On-Time Arrivals Also Declined According To The Report

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) has released its March 2019 Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) on marketing and reporting air carrier data compiled for the month of January 2019.

In January 2019, DOT received 878 complaints about airline service from consumers, down 39.5 percent from the total of 1,452 filed in January 2018 and down 12.3 percent from the 1,001 received in December 2018. In that same period, marketing carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 78.4 percent, down from both the 80.0 percent on-time rate in December 2018 and from 79.4 percent in January 2018.

Highest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates

• Hawaiian Airlines Network – 87.2 percent
• Spirit Airlines – 82.9 percent
• Delta Airlines Network – 82.7 percent

Lowest Marketing Carrier On-Time Arrival Rates

• JetBlue Airways – 69.4 percent
• United Airlines Network – 72.1 percent
• Allegiant Airlines – 73.4 percent

In January 2019, marketing carriers canceled 3.1 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, a higher rate than 1.2 percent in December 2018 and equal to 3.1 percent in January 2018. Airlines also reported 10 tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights, a decrease from the 19 such tarmac delays reported in December 2018, and the 12 tarmac delays reported in January 2018.  In January 2019, airlines reported four tarmac delays of more than four hours on international flights, compared to no tarmac delays reported in December 2018 and 32 tarmac delays reported in January 2018.  Extended tarmac delays are investigated by the Department.

Four of the domestic tarmac delays took place at Detroit on Jan. 22 and an additional four took place at the Washington-Baltimore airports that same day.

Beginning in 2019, airlines with at least one-half of one percent of the total scheduled-service domestic passenger revenue for the 12-months ending December 2018 are required to report mishandled baggage data for domestic flights.  Mishandled baggage data is to consist of the number of mishandled bags and the number of checked bags.  Previous reports were the number of mishandled baggage reports and passenger enplanements.  The Department has decided to delay the publication in the ATCR of the new mishandled baggage data in order to enable the Department and airlines to ensure the accuracy of the data, which will allow consumers to make informed choices.  Inaccurate data is of little use to consumers.  In May 2019, the Department plans to publish revised ATCRs for February 2019 (December 2018 data), March 2019 (January 2019 data), and April 2019 (February 2019 data) that include the new mishandled baggage data.

(Source: U.S. DOT news release)

FMI: www.dot.gov