Air Travel Is Slumping. Here’s What Passengers Are Telling the U.S. Government

WASHINGTON — Air travel has gotten more miserable in the past year, if you consider the number of consumer complaints filed with the U.S. government as a measure.

The Transportation Department said Friday it received nearly 97,000 complaints in 2023, compared with about 86,000 the year before. The department said the complaints were so numerous that it took until July to sort through the files and compile the numbers.

This is the highest number of Consumer Complaints About Airlines Since 2020, when airlines were slow to refund customers after the coronavirus pandemic shut down air travel.

The increase in complaints came even as Flights cancelled Far fewer flights in the United States — 116,700, or 1.2% of the total, last year, compared with about 210,500, or 2.3%, In 2022According to FlightAware data, delays remained stubbornly high last year, accounting for about 21% of all flights.

So far this year, flight cancellations have remained relatively low — about 1.3% of total flights — but delays still stand at about 21%.

More than two-thirds of all complaints were dealt with last year. American AirlinesBut a quarter of these reports dealt with foreign airlines. The rest of the reports were about travel agents and tour operators.

Complaints about treatment Passengers with disabilities It increased by more than a quarter compared to 2022. Discrimination complaints, although small in number, also rose sharply. Most of them were About race Or national origin.

The Department of Transportation said the increase in complaints was partly a result of more consumers knowing their rights and being able to file a complaint. The department said it has helped Southwest Airlines customers obtain more than $600 million in refunds and compensation after the airline canceled nearly 17,000 flights in December 2022. Southwest also paid $1,000 to Southwest Airlines. $35 million fine.

Airlines receive many complaints from passengers who don’t know how or don’t bother to complain to the government, but airlines don’t publish these numbers.

The Department of Transportation is working to update its complaint-receiving system, which the agency says will help it do a better job of overseeing the aviation industry. However, the department is now releasing complaint numbers several months behind schedule. It did not release numbers for the second half of 2023 until Friday.