Fliers taking advantage of cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms received mixed news last week with the release of a consumer air travel report showing a large decline in runway delays, improvements in airline on-time performance and baggage handling and yet an increase in passenger complaints.
Airline service complaints rose 35 percent in August vs. the same month last year. The Department of Transportation (DOT) received 1,200 complaints in August vs. 891 last year.
The two biggest complaint categories concerned flight problems, including cancellations, delays and missed connections, and reservation/ticketing/boarding problems. Baggage related complaints ranked third this year vs. being the second most complained about category in 09.
The DOT noted that the increase in flight complaints was not due to more cancellations, delays and missed connections, as their numbers were comparable in August to last years numbers.
On-time performance in August improved to almost 82 percent this year vs. less than 80 percent in 09. The cancellation rate among major airlines remained flat at 1 percent year over year. Mishandled baggage rate dropped to 3.5 reports per 1,000 passengers vs. 4.11 in August of 09.
The DOT believes that the increase in complaints in August is a result of the increased publicity about airline consumer issues this year. Another factor may be the redesigned DOT website released in January for airline consumers which included a prominent feature making the filing of complaints easier for travelers.
www.cheapfares.com