Flight Delays Increase Slightly in May While Carriers Cancel Fewer Flights

Contact DOT 55-03 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Tuesday, July 1, 2003 -- In May 2003 the nation's larger airlines experienced a slight increase in flight delays but canceled fewer flights than during the previous month, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report, which was released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

The monthly report also includes data about consumer disability, discrimination and service complaints received by the department's Aviation Consumer Protection Division, as well as reports of mishandled baggage filed with the carriers.

Flight Delays

According to information filed with the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 17 carriers reporting on-time performance posted an 84.9 percent on-time arrival record in May, less than April's 86.8 percent rate. Southwest Airlines had the highest on-time rate in May at 90.1 percent, followed by JetBlue Airways in second place, also at 90.1 but a small fraction of a percentage behind Southwest. Skywest Airlines was third at 90.0. Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 73.9 percent, with Atlantic Coast Airlines ranked 16th at 76.1 percent and AirTran Airlines 15th at 80.0 percent.

The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. Only one flight was on this list for May: ATA Airlines flight 276 from Chicago Midway to Newark, N.J., late 80.77 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. The carriers that report delay data are required, beginning with data for June 2003, to report the causes of delays and cancellations to BTS.

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 BTS data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the reporting carriers. In May, the carriers canceled 0.8 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, an improvement over April's 1.2 percent cancellation rate. Atlantic Coast had the highest percentage of canceled flights in May at 2.8 percent, followed by Atlantic Southeast at 2.7 and Alaska Airlines at 1.5. JetBlue had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.1 percent, followed by Continental Airlines, also at 0.1 but a small fraction of a percentage greater than JetBlue, and ExpressJet Airlines at 0.2 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

The 17 U.S. carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.67 reports per 1,000 passengers in May, slightly higher than April's 3.59 rate.

Complaints About Airline Service

In May, consumers filed 489 complaints about airline service with the department, 35.4 percent fewer than the 757 complaints received in May 2002 but 2.1 percent more than the total of 479 received in April 2003.

Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers

The report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in May against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The department received a total of 16 disability-related complaints in May, 42.9 percent fewer than the total of 28 filed in May 2002 and 38.5 percent below the 26 recorded in April 2003.

Complaints About Discrimination

In May, the department received four complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability - such as race, religion, national origin or sex - a decrease of 55.6 percent from the total of nine recorded in May 2002 and 60 percent below the 10 complaints registered in April 2003.

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, DC 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 reminds 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://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov. It is available in "pdf" and Microsoft Word format.