While travelers readily appreciate the value of cheap airplane tickets and discount travel packages, passenger frustration rose as the airlines more proactively canceled flights in January to avoid paying the huge fines threatened by the government for holding passengers on runways too long.
The good news was that only one flight remained on a runway beyond the governments mandated limit of three hours. A Delta flight from Atlanta to Honolulu sat on a runway for three and a half hours before being canceled.
Almost 19,000 flights were canceled in January, for a cancellation rate of just under 4 percent. This is the 13th highest rate on record. Atlantic Southeast Airlines which flies smaller connecting flights for United Express and Delta Connection experienced the highest cancellation rate (over 9 percent) of any airline.
Januarys cancellation rate was up significantly from the 2.5 percent rate a year earlier, but increased only modestly from the 3.7 percent December cancellation rate.
Januarys cancellation rate was attributed primarily to bad weather, with severe winter storms paralyzing East coast airports as well as Chicago airports.
The on-time performance of U.S. airlines came in at over 76 percent in January vs. almost 79 percent the prior year for the same month.
Januarys mishandled baggage rate was 4.2 per thousand passengers in January vs. 4.6 a year ago. Passenger complaints were also down. The Transportation Department received 855 complaints regarding unsatisfactory airline service in January vs. 928 a year earlier.
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