Percentage of Flight Delays Remains Low In November, According to DOT Report

Contact DOT 1-02 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Wednesday, January 2, 2002 -- The nation's largest air carriers continued to record a high percentage of on-time flights this past November, the U.S. Department of Transportation reported today.

According to the department's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, the 11 largest U.S. carriers posted an 84.7 percent on-time arrival record in November, only slightly below October's rate of 84.8 —which was the carriers' best record in more than four years—and well above November 2000's 72.8. The reduced volume of air traffic following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may have contributed to the reduction in flight delays.

In addition to the data from DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics regarding airline on-time arrivals, the report includes information about mishandled baggage and consumer disability and service complaints for November.

Flight Delays

Trans World Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in November at 87.5 percent, followed by Delta Air Lines and US Airways, both at 86.7. Alaska Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 75.9, with United Airlines ranked tenth at 80.8 and American Eagle Airlines ninth at 81.4.

The report includes a list of regularly scheduled flights that arrived late 80 percent of the time or more. In November there were only two flights on the list: Alaska flight 269 from Los Angeles to Seattle, late 86.67 percent of the time; and Delta flight 440 from Atlanta to Chicago O'Hare, late 82.76 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.

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 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 data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the 11 reporting carriers. In November, the carriers canceled 1.1 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, down from both the 1.5 percent cancellation rate of October and the 2.3 percent rate of November 2000. American Eagle had the highest rate of canceled flights with 3.1 percent, followed by American Airlines and Delta, both with 1.4 percent. Trans World had the lowest rate of canceled flights at 0.4 percent, with United ranked second-best at 0.5 percent and Continental third-best, also at 0.5 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

In November, the 11 largest U.S. carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.82 reports per 1,000 passengers, better than both October's rate of 4.19 and November 2000's 4.96.

Complaints About Airline Service

DOT received 516 complaints from consumers about airline service during the month of November, a 37.5 percent decrease from the 825 complaints received in October and 62.9 percent below the 1,390 recorded in November 2000. Mail delivery problems to U.S. government offices in the Washington area during both October and November may have affected the complaint numbers for the months, with almost all complaints registered after Oct. 15 being received by e-mail or telephone.

This report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in November against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The department received a total of 11 disability-related complaints in November, 56 percent fewer than the 25 filed in October and 83.1 percent below the 65 registered in November 2000. These totals may have been affected by mail delivery problems as well.

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.

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 PDF and Microsoft Word format.