Flight Delays Increase Slightly in June

Contact DOT 64-03 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Thursday, August 7, 2003 -- The nation's larger airlines experienced a slight increase in flight delays in June compared to the previous month, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

The monthly report also includes flight cancellation data and 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 and involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, data for the second quarter of this year.

Flight Delays

According to information filed with the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 17 carriers reporting on-time performance posted an 82.4 percent on-time arrival record in June, down from May's 84.9 percent rate. Skywest Airlines had the highest on-time rate in June at 90.3 percent, followed by Southwest Airlines in second place at 85.4 and America West Airlines third at 85.2. Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 72.5 percent, with US Airways ranked 16th at 77.7 percent and AirTran Airways 15th, also at 77.7 percent but a fraction of a percentage higher than US Airways.

The report contains a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In June, the most frequently delayed flights were ExpressJet Airlines flight 2596 from Raleigh-Durham, NC, to Newark, NJ, and American Airlines flight 452 from San Jose, CA, to Dallas-Fort Worth, both late 88.24 percent of the time. ExpressJet flight 2035 from Providence, RI, to Newark was late 87.50 percent of the time, US Airways flight 29 from Philadelphia to Los Angeles was late 86.96 percent of the time, and two American flights originating in Dallas-Fort Worth - 1318 to Los Angeles and 2953 to Seattle - were both late 82.35 percent of the time.

The report contains a note reminding consumers that flight delays can be caused by a variety of factors. The carriers that report on-time flight information have been required to also report the causes of delays and cancellations beginning with June's data. Once the Transportation Security Administration, DOT's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and BTS complete testing and validating this causal information to ensure its accuracy, the data will be included in the Air Travel Consumer Report.

These official on-time data are distinct from the data compiled by the 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 June, the carriers canceled 0.8 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, fractionally lower than the nearly identical 0.8 cancellation percentage for May. Atlantic Coast Airlines had the highest percentage of canceled flights in June at 1.8 percent, followed by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, also at 1.8 but a fraction of a percentage fewer than Atlantic Coast. American Eagle Airlines had the third-highest rate of cancellations at 1.6 percent. JetBlue Airways had the lowest percentage of cancellations, with no flights canceled in June, followed by Continental Airlines at 0.1 percent and America West at 0.2 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

The 17 U.S. carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.22 reports per 1,000 passengers in June, slightly higher than May's 3.67 rate. For the first six months of this year, the carriers recorded a mishandled baggage rate of 4.28.

Bumping

The report also includes airline reports of involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, for the second quarter of 2003. Of the 17 U.S. carriers who report on-time performance and mishandled baggage data, 14 are also required to report their bumping records to DOT. These 14 carriers posted a bumping rate of 1.08 per 10,000 passengers for the quarter, up slightly from the .90 rate for the first quarter of 2003. For the first six months of this year, the carriers had a bumping rate of 0.99 per 10,000 passengers.

Complaints About Airline Service

In June, consumers filed 504 complaints about airline service with the department, 43.6 percent fewer than the 893 complaints received in June 2002 but 3.1 percent more than the total of 489 received in May 2003. During the first six months of this year, the department received 3,141 passenger complaints, a decrease of 44.1 percent from the total of 5,623 recorded during January-June 2002.

Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers

The report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in June against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The department received a total of 29 disability-related complaints in June, 42 percent fewer than the total of 50 filed in June 2002 but 81.3 percent more than the 16 recorded in May 2003. For the first six months of this year, the department received 148 disability-related complaints, a 39.8 percent decrease from the total of 246 recorded during January-June 2002.

Complaints About Discrimination

In June, the department received seven 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 13 recorded in June 2002 but a slight increase over the total of four received in May 2003. For the first six months of this year, the department received 42 complaints about discrimination, a decrease of 70 percent from the total of 139 received during January-June 2002.

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.