U.S. Transportation Division officers final yr had been as much as their necks in complaints submitted by air vacationers over the whole lot from delays and cancellations to lodging for disabled passengers.
The company reported on Friday that it obtained almost 97,000 submissions in 2023, 91% of which had been complaints. That is up from about 86,000 whole submissions, together with complaints, inquiries and opinions in 2022.
The division stated there was such a excessive quantity of client grievances filed towards airways and ticket brokers final yr that it took till this month to kind by the submitting and compile last figures.
The determine marks the biggest variety of air journey complaints by shoppers since 2020, when airways had been gradual to offer clients refunds after the coronavirus pandemic shut down air journey. That yr, the division obtained roughly 103,000 complaints, in accordance with PIRG.
The rise in complaints got here whilst airways canceled far fewer U.S. flights — 116,700, or 1.2% of the full, final yr, in contrast with about 210,500, or 2.3%, in 2022, in accordance with FlightAware information. Nevertheless, delays remained stubbornly excessive final yr, at round 21% of all flights.
To this point this yr, cancellations stay comparatively low — about 1.3% of all flights — however delays are nonetheless operating round 21%.
Greater than two-thirds, or 67,661, of submissions final yr handled U.S. airways, however 1 / 4, or 24,991, coated international airways. Journey brokers and tour operators had been the rationale for 3,162 complaints.
Incapacity-related grievances rose by greater than 1 / 4 in contrast with 2022, with some incidents making headlines, together with a paraplegic Delta Air Strains passenger in December 2023 who claimed he was compelled to crawl to his Delta Air Strains seat after nobody was accessible to assist him board. Earlier that yr in November, a video went viral of American Airways crew members mishandling a passenger’s wheelchair, sparking some individuals with disabilities to talk out about their adverse journey experiences.
Although they wish to journey by airplane, many disabled People forego air journey out of concern of not being sufficiently accommodated by airways, in accordance with an April examine from the Century Basis.
Complaints of discrimination, whereas small in quantity, additionally rose sharply. Most had been about race or nationwide origin.Airways obtain many extra complaints from vacationers who do not understand how or do not hassle to complain to the federal government, however carriers do not launch these numbers.
The Transportation Division stated it’s modernizing its complaint-taking system, which the company says will assist it do a greater job overseeing the airline trade. Nevertheless, the division now releases grievance numbers many months late. It didn’t situation figures for the second half of 2023 till Friday.
— The Related Press contributed to this report.
