FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 8, 2001
Contact: Bill Mosley
Tel.: (202) 366-5571
DOT 4-01

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) today issued its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, which contains information from DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) about airline on-time arrivals, in addition to information about mishandled baggage and consumer disability and service complaints for November 2000.

In releasing the report, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater said that DOT has launched a broad-ranging effort to bring about both short- and long-term improvements in customer service. "Our effort to improve customer service ranks second only to safety, which is President Clinton and Vice President Gore’s highest transportation priority," the Secretary said. "The Air Travel Consumer Report continues to provide valuable information about airlines’ progress in improving customer service."

As part of the effort to improve customer service, DOT held roundtable meetings in Washington in late August with representatives of airlines, consumer groups, airports, labor and other stakeholders. In addition, Secretary Slater has traveled around the country to the nation’s busiest airports to meet with frontline employees and consumers. With the information gained from these initiatives, DOT developed an Oct. 11 report identifying the airlines’ "best practices" in providing better service and information to their customers. In addition, in November a DOT task force issued recommendations to improve the on-time information that airlines and DOT provide to consumers. Finally, the department’s Federal Aviation Administration has begun efforts to expedite investment in technology and infrastructure modernization.

According to the information filed with BTS, the 11 carriers reporting on-time data posted a 72.8 percent on-time record in November, not as good as either October’s rate of 76.2 percent or November 1999's 81.4. Aloha Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in November at 89.3 percent, followed by Trans World Airlines at 81.5 and Continental Airlines at 80.0. Alaska Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 66.1, with Delta Air Lines ranked tenth at 67.4 and America West Airlines ninth at 67.5.

The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In November, the five most frequently delayed flights were operated by US Airways, all having New York’s LaGuardia Airport as their destination or arrival point and all arriving late 100 percent of the time. These were flights 278 from Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; 316 to Raleigh/Durham; 1436 to Columbus, Ohio; 407 from Columbus; and 1639 from Louisville, Ky.

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.

The consumer report also includes data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the 11 reporting carriers. In November, the carriers canceled 2.3 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, up from the 2.1 cancellation percentage rate of October. America West and United both canceled 4.2 percent of their flights, the highest rate for November, followed by Alaska at 3.2. Continental had the lowest rate of cancellations at 0.7 percent, followed by Southwest Airlines with 0.9 percent and Trans World with 1.1 percent.

The 10 largest U.S. carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.96 reports per 1,000 passengers in November, not as good as either October’s rate of 4.51 or November 1999's 4.01.

Consumers registered 1,392 complaints about airline service with DOT in November, a 13 percent decrease from the 1,604 complaints filed in October and nearly 18 percent below the 1,693 filed in November 1999.

In addition, this report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in November against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. Consumers filed a total of 65 disability-related complaints in October, an increase of 16 percent over the 56 complaints filed in October but 7 percent fewer than the 70 registered in November 1999.

Consumers may file their complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, 400 7^th 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.

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 "html" and "pdf" format.

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Briefing Room