Flight Delay, Cancellation, Mishandled Baggage Rates Improve in January

Contact DOT 16-03 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Monday, March 3, 2003 -- In January 2003, the nation's largest air carriers reported fewer flight delays and cancellations and a lower rate of mishandled baggage than in either January 2002 or last December, according to the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report issued today by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

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 recorded an on-time arrival rate of 84.9 percent in January, better than both January 2002's rate of 81.0 percent and December 2002's 78.3 percent. United Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in January at 88.0 percent, followed by Southwest Airlines at 87.5 percent and American Airlines at 86.3 percent. America West Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time arrivals in January at 77.8 percent, with American Eagle Airlines ranked ninth at 78.6 percent and Alaska Airlines eighth at 81.6 percent.

The monthly report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In January, only one flight made the list: Northwest Airlines flight 927 from Seattle to Honolulu, late 80.65 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 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 in January by the reporting carriers. In January, the carriers canceled 1.2 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, down from the 1.7 percent cancellation rate of both January 2002 and December 2002. Alaska had the highest rate of canceled flights in January at 3.1 percent, followed by American Eagle at 2.7 percent and America West at 2.4 percent. United had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.3 percent, followed by Continental Airlines, also at 0.3 percent but a fraction of a percentage higher than United, and Northwest at 0.7 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

In January, the 10 U.S. airlines requiredto file flight delay and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.53 reports per 1,000 passengers, better than both January 2002's rate of 4.69 and December 2002's 4.91.

Complaints About Airline Service

In January, the department received 692 complaints from passengers about airline service, a 35 percent drop from the 1,065 complaints filed in January 2002 but 33.8 percent more than the 517 complaints registered in December 2002.

Complaints About Treatment of Passengers With Disabilities

In January, the department received 29 disability-related complaints, slightly higher than both the total of 25 recorded in January 2002 and the 24 complaints filed in December 2002.

Complaints About Discrimination

In January, the department received 14 complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability - such as race, religion, national origin or sex - well below the total of 33 recorded in January 2002 but more than the total of eight registered in December 2002.

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.