FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, June 2, 1999
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT 78-99
DOT Issues Monthly
Air Travel Consumer Report
The U.S. Department of Transportation today issued its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, which contains information on airline on-time performance, mishandled baggage and consumer complaints for April 1999.
According to the report, the 10 largest U.S. carriers posted an on-time arrival record of 75.7 percent in April, not as good as either March’s rate of 78.1 percent or April 1998's mark of 79.1.
The carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.70 complaints per 1,000 passengers in April, better than March’s rate of 5.12 but not as good as April 1998's rate of 4.56.
Consumers filed 1,314 complaints about airline service with the department in April, 14 percent more than the 1,154 tallied in March and 87 percent more than the 702 recorded in April 1998.
Consumers may file their complaints with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, 400 Seventh St., S.W., Room 4107, Washington, D.C. 20590.
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 both "html" and "pdf" formats.
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