Flight Delays, Complaints, Baggage Mishandling Decline in May, DOT Reports

Contact DOT 69-01 Bill Mosley 202-366-5571

Monday, July 2, 2001 -- Flight delays, cancellations, reports of mishandled baggage and complaints about airline service all declined this May, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report which was released today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

"The Bush administration is committed to addressing the problem of flight delays and to improving airline customer service, and we are encouraged by this month's statistics," U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta said. "We have had an unprecedented level of cooperation between DOT's Federal Aviation Administration, the airlines, pilots and controllers in managing the system, and we will continue to work hard to improve it."

Flight Delays

According to information filed with DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which compiles the department's official delay data, the 12 carriers reporting on-time data posted an 81.5 percent on-time record in May, better than both April's rate of 79.3 and May 2000's 74.3.

Aloha Airlines had the best on-time arrival rate in May at 87.3 percent, followed by Continental Airlines at 86.1 and Trans World Airlines at 85.2. American Eagle Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time flights at 71.6, with America West Airlines ranked eleventh at 77.0 and Alaska Airlines tenth at 77.3.

The report includes a list of regularly scheduled flights that were late at least 80 percent of the time. In May, only two flights made the list: Aloha flight 482 from Honolulu to Orange County, Calif., late 87.10 percent of the time; and America West flight 247 from Las Vegas to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, late 80.65 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 cause, only the occurrence, of flight delays.

These official on-time data are distinct from the flight delay 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 national airspace system but are not designed to measure airline passenger delays. Flight delay data compiled by the FAA may be obtained at http://www.faa.gov/newsroom.

Flight Cancellations

The consumer report also includes data on the number of domestic flights canceled by the 12 reporting carriers. In May, the carriers canceled 1.8 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, fewer than both the 2.2 percent canceled in April and the 3.4 mark of May 2000. American Eagle had the highest percentage of canceled flights with 4.2 percent, followed by American Airlines with 2.4 percent and Aloha with 2.1 percent. Southwest Airlines had the lowest rate of canceled flights at 0.7 percent, with Continental at 0.7 and Trans World at 0.8.

Mishandled Baggage

The 11 largest U.S. carriers posted a mishandled baggage rate of 3.79 reports per 1,000 passengers in May, better than both April's rate of 4.30 and May 2000's 4.85.

Complaints About Airlines Service

Consumers registered 1,158 complaints about airline service with DOT in May, a 30.5 percent decrease from the 1,667 complaints filed in April and 33 percent below the 1,729 filed in May 2000.

In addition, this report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in May against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. Consumers filed a total of 48 disability-related complaints in May, a decrease of 2 percent from the 49 complaints filed in April and a 4 percent decrease from the 50 registered in May 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" format.