Fewer Discrimination Complaints Filed by Airline Passengers In May, According to DOT Report

Contact DOT 64-02 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Monday, July 1, 2002 -- Complaints about discrimination in air transportation dropped by 50 percent between April and May, according to the monthly Air Travel Consumer Report issued today by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Consumers registered nine complaints in May alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability – such as race, religion, national origin or sex – compared to 18 filed in April. This also represents an 83.6 percent decrease from the 55 discrimination complaints filed in March, and is 30.8 percent below the 13 complaints filed in May 2001.

DOT’s report also includes data about flight delays, mishandled baggage, and complaints about airline service and the treatment of passengers with disabilities.

Flight Delays

According to information filed with the department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 10 carriers reporting on-time performance posted an 82.8 percent on-time arrival record in May, better than both April’s 82.6 percent and May 2001’s 81.5 percent. America West Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in May at 87.7 percent, followed by United Airlines in second place at 86.2 and Continental Airlines third at 86.0. Delta Air Lines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights, ranked tenth at 79.3, with American Eagle Airlines ranked ninth at 80.8 and Alaska Airlines eighth at 80.9.

The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In May, there were five flights on this list: Southwest Airlines flight 486 from Baltimore/Washington International Airport to Louisville, KY, late 87.10 percent of the time; Southwest flight 486 from Louisville to St. Louis, late 84.62 percent; Northwest Airlines flight 1788 from Detroit to Philadelphia, late 80.65 percent; Southwest flight 1428 from Cleveland to Baltimore/Washington International, late 80.65 percent; and Northwest flight 1195 from Detroit to Las Vegas, also 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 by the reporting carriers. In May, the carriers canceled 1.0 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, the same percentage as in April, but fewer than May 2001’s 1.8 percent. American Eagle had the highest rate of canceled flights in May at 2.7 percent, followed by Alaska Airlines at 2.0 and US Airways at 1.1. Continental had the lowest percentage of cancellations at 0.2 percent, followed by American West and United, both at 0.4 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

In May, the 10 largest U.S. airlines posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.32 reports per 1,000 passengers. This represents the lowest rate of mishandled baggage by the reporting carriers since they were first required to report this data in September 1987 and the lowest rate since the previous record of 3.69 set in April 2002. By comparison, the carriers recorded a mishandled baggage rate of 3.85 in May 2001.

Complaints About Airline Service

The department received 755 complaints about airline service in May, 18.5 percent fewer than the 926 complaints filed in April and 34.2 percent fewer than the 1,149 complaints received in May 2001.

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 29 disability-related complaints in May, a decrease of 21.6 percent from the 37 complaints filed in April and 40.8 percent below May 2001’s total of 49.

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. 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://www.dot.gov/airconsumer. It is available in “pdf” and Microsoft Word format.