DOT 109-02
Monday, December 2, 2002
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
Cancellations,
Mishandled Bags, Consumer Complaints Rise Slightly in October But Still Below
2001 Levels
Flight delays, cancellations, reports of mishandled baggage
and complaints about airline service all rose slightly in October compared to
September’s totals but, with the exception of flight delays, still represented
improvements over October 2001 figures, according to the monthly Air Travel
Consumer Report issued today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).
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 84.2 percent on-time arrival
record in October, not as good as either October 2001’s 84.8 percent record or
September’s 88.0, which was the best mark since the department began
collecting comparable data in 1995. United
Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in October at 88.0 percent, followed
by US Airways at 87.9 and American Airlines at 87.5. Continental Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time
flights in October at 78.4 percent, with American Eagle Airlines ranked ninth at
79.6 and Alaska Airlines eighth at 80.2.
The monthly report contains a list of regularly scheduled
flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time.
For October, five flights made the list:
Southwest Airlines flight 2452 from Chicago Midway to Kansas City, MO,
late 90.91 percent of the time; American Eagle flight 4457 from New York
LaGuardia to Raleigh-Durham, NC, late 86.96; Southwest flight 2452 from Detroit
to Chicago Midway, late 86.36 percent; American Eagle flight 4449 from LaGuardia
to Detroit, late 81.48 percent; and Delta Air Lines flight 175 from Atlanta to
Dallas-Fort Worth, late 80.65 percent.
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.
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 delays caused by weather and aircraft 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 October, the carriers canceled 1.0 percent of their
scheduled domestic flights, fewer than October 2001’s 1.5 percent but slightly
more than September’s rate of 0.9. Alaska
had the highest rate of canceled flights in October at 3.1 percent, followed by
American Eagle at 2.3 and Southwest at 1.5.
United had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.4 percent,
followed by US Airways at 0.5 and American at 0.6.
Mishandled
Baggage
In October, the 10 U.S. airlines required to file flight delay
and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.09 reports per
1,000 passengers, much better than October 2001’s 4.11 but slightly higher
than September’s all-time best mark of 3.04.
Complaints
About Airline Service
The department received 518 complaints from consumers about
airline service in October, 37 percent fewer than the 822 received in October
2001 but an increase of less than 1 percent over September’s total of 514.
Complaints
About Treatment of Passengers With Disabilities
The report
also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in October against
specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities.
The department received a total of 54 disability-related complaints in
October, more than double the 25 recorded in October 2001 and 86.2 percent more
than the 29 filed in September.
Complaints
About Discrimination
Consumers registered five complaints in October alleging
discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability – such as
race, religion, national origin or sex – 82.8 percent below the total of 29
filed in October 2001 and 58.3 percent fewer than the 12 complaints filed in
September.
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.
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/ntda/oai/.
The
Air Travel Consumer Report can be found on DOT’s World Wide Web site at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov/
and is available in “pdf” and Microsoft Word format.
###