FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 7, 2000
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT 165-00
DOT Issues Monthly
Air Travel Consumer Report
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today issued its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, which contains information about airline on-time arrivals, mishandled baggage, and consumer disability and service complaints for July 2000, and denied boarding of passengers for the second quarter of this year.
In releasing the report, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater said that DOT has launched a broad-ranging effort to bring about both short- and long-term improvements in customer service. "Our effort to improve customer service ranks second only to safety, which is President Clinton’s and Vice President Gore’s highest transportation priority. The Air Travel Consumer Report continues to provide valuable information about the areas that need additional attention."
As part of the effort to improve customer service, DOT has held roundtable meetings in Washington with representatives of airlines, consumer groups, airports, labor and other stakeholders. In addition, Secretary Slater has gone around the country to the nation’s busiest airports to meet with frontline employees and consumers. Among the forums through which DOT will continue to explore these issues are a task force on airline service quality performance, an effort to identify "best practices" in providing better service and information to consumers, and an effort by the DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration to expedite investment in technology and infrastructure modernization.
According to the report, the 10 largest U.S. carriers posted a 70.3 percent on-time record in July, better than June’s rate of 66.3 percent but not as good as July 1999's 71.1 percent. Continental Airlines had the best on-time rate in July with 80.1 percent, followed by Southwest Airlines at 78.5 and Northwest Airlines at 77.9. United Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 41.7, with America West Airlines ranked ninth at 64.4 percent and Alaska Airlines eighth at 64.8.
The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In July, the 72 most frequently delayed flights were operated by United. Four of United’s flights were late 100 percent of the time in July, all originating in Denver: flight 1447 to San Francisco, flight 264 to Chicago O’Hare, flight 448 to Atlanta, and flight 1479 to San Francisco.
The report also 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 cause, only the occurrence, of flight delays.
The consumer report also includes data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the 10 largest U.S. airlines. In July, the carriers canceled 3.2 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, an improvement over the 4.0 percent rate of June. United canceled 7.7 percent of its flights, the highest rate for July, followed by Alaska at 7.1 percent and America West at 6.3 percent. Southwest had the lowest rate of cancellations at 0.5 percent, followed by Trans World Airlines with 1.8 percent and Continental with 1.9 percent.
The carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 5.64 reports per 1,000 passengers in July, slightly improved from both June’s rate of 5.72 and July 1999's 5.75.
Consumers registered 2,444 complaints about airline service with DOT in July, an increase of 2 percent over the 2,389 complaints filed in June but just over 1 percent fewer than the 2,481 complaints registered in July 1999.
In addition, this report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in July against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. Consumers filed a total of 53 disability-related complaints in July, an increase of 6 percent from the 50 complaints filed in June and 18 percent more than the 45 registered in July 1999.
The report also shows that the carriers compiled a rate of denied boarding, or bumping, of 1.22 per 10,000 passengers during the second quarter of 2000, an increase over both the 0.90 rate for the first quarter of this year and the 0.89 rate for the second quarter of 1999. For the first six months of this year, the carriers had a bumping rate of 1.08, an improvement over the 1.15 rate for January-June 1999.
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 or by voice mail at (202) 366-2220.
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.
The Air Travel Consumer Report can be found on DOT’s World Wide Web site at http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer. It is available in "html" and "pdf" format.
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