FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    
Thursday, March 8, 2001   
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.:  (202) 366-5571
DOT 23-01

More Airline Bumping in 2000, Fewer Flight Delays in January, According to DOT Report

 

The rates of involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, by the 10 largest U.S. airlines increased in 2000 compared to the previous year, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said today in its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report.

The report also shows a reduction in flight delays in January among the airlines that report on-time performance.

According to the report, which also contains information about mishandled baggage and consumer disability and service complaints for January, the carriers posted a bumping rate of 1.04 per 10,000 passengers in 2000, up from the rate of 0.88 in 1999.  The bumping rate for the fourth quarter of 2000 was 1.01, up from the 0.98 rate for the third quarter of last year and 0.67 for the fourth quarter of 1999.

Flight Delays

 According to information filed with DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 11 carriers reporting on-time data posted a 76.6 percent on-time record in January, better than both December’s rate of 62.8 percent and January 2000’s 73.7.  Aloha Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in January at 93.9 percent, followed by Northwest Airlines at 81.0 and Continental Airlines at 80.6.  Alaska Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 66.2, with America West Airlines ranked tenth at 68.5 and Delta Air Lines ninth at 73.1.

The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In January, only one flight fit this category:  Alaska flight 720 from Seattle to Phoenix, which was late 83.87 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 cause, only the occurrence, of flight delays.

This report is distinct from the flight delay data compiled by DOT’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) which records delays while aircraft are under the control of the air traffic control system (i.e., from actual gate pushback time to actual gate arrival time).  These data typically cover delays caused by weather and volume, for example, but do not cover delays at the gate such as those caused by aircraft mechanical problems or crew unavailability.  The FAA’s flight delay data for January also was released today and may be obtained at www.faa.gov/newsroom. 

Flight Cancellations

The consumer report also includes BTS data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the 11 reporting carriers.  In January, the carriers canceled 3.3 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, down from the 5.9 percent cancellation rate of December.  Delta had the highest rate of canceled flights at 5.0 percent, followed by American Airlines at 4.9 and Alaska at 4.1.  Southwest Airlines had the lowest percentage of canceled flights at 1.3 percent, followed by Continental and Aloha at 1.5.