Fewer Flights Delayed in October, According to DOT Report

Contact DOT 121-01 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Tuesday, December 4, 2001 -- In October, the nation's largest air carriers posted their best on-time performance in more than four years, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said today.

According to the department's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report, the 12 carriers reporting on-time data posted an 84.8 percent on-time arrival record in October, compared to the 76.2 percent rate of October 2000 and the best on-time record by the reporting carriers since September 1997's 85.0 percent. The reduced volume of air traffic following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks contributed to the reduction in flight delays.

In addition to the data from DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics regarding airline on-time arrivals, the report includes information from 11 airlines about mishandled baggage and consumer disability and service complaints for October. Also included are data on airline bumping for the third quarter of 2001 and the first nine months of this year.

Flight Delays

Delta Air Lines had the best on-time arrival rate in October at 90.1 percent, followed by Continental Airlines at 88.7 and Southwest Airlines at 86.6. Alaska Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 76.4, with Aloha Airlines ranked eleventh at 79.9 and American Airlines 80.0.

The report includes a list of regularly scheduled flights that arrived 80 percent of the time or more. In October there were only two flights on the list: Alaska flight 533 from San Diego to Portland, OR, late 85.19 percent of the time; and Delta flight 1010 from Atlanta to Reagan Washington National Airport, late 81.25 percent.

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 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 data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the 12 reporting carriers. In October, the carriers canceled 1.5 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, down from the 2.1 percent cancellation rate of October 2000. American Eagle Airlines had the highest percentage of canceled flights with 6.6 percent, followed by Aloha with 1.9 percent and Northwest Airlines with 1.6 percent. United Airlines had the lowest rate of canceled flights at 0.7 percent, with Continetal ranked second-best, also at 0.7 but higher than United by a small fraction. Trans World Airlines was third-best at 0.8 percent.

Mishandled Baggage

The 11 largest U.S. carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.19 reports per 1,000 passengers in October, an improvement over October 2000's rate of 4.51.

Bumping

The largest U.S. carriers posted a rate of denied boarding, or bumping, of 0.70 per 10,000 passengers during the third quarter of 2001, lower than both the 0.91 rate for the second quarter of this year and the 0.98 rate for the third quarter of last year. For the first nine months of this year, the carriers posted a bumping rate of 0.83, an improvement over the 1.08 rate for January-September 2000.

Complaints About Airline Service

DOT received 825 complaints from consumers about airline service with DOT during the month of October, a 20.9 percent decrease from the 1,043 complaints received in September and 48.6 percent below the 1,605 filed in September 2000. Mail delivery problems to U.S. government offices in the Washington area during October may have affected the complaint numbers for the month, with almost all complaints registered after Oct. 15 being received by e-mail or telephone.

In addition, this report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in October against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. Consumers filed a total of 25 disability-related complaints in October, 26.5 percent fewer than the 34 filed in September and 56.1 percent below the 57 registered in October 2000.

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, 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.