WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) released today states that reporting carriers canceled 0.3 percent of their scheduled domestic flights in September 2016, the lowest for any of the 261 months with comparable records since January 1995, below the previous low of 0.4 percent in September 2015. The cancellation rate in August 2016 was 1.4 percent.
The ATCR also introduces data about discrimination complaints that the Department has received. The Department is making this data available for the first time to provide more transparency regarding the number of complaints that its Aviation Consumer Protection Division receives in each of the protected classes of race, ancestry, national origin, color, religion, and sex. This comes as a result of concerns about alleged discrimination of passengers and an increase in the number of complaints filed.
From January to September 2016, the Aviation Consumer Protection Division received 67 complaints from consumers alleging discrimination by airlines – 52 complaints regarding race, eight complaints regarding national origin, one complaint regarding color, two complaints regarding religion, and four complaints regarding sex. This is an increase from the 49 complaints alleging discrimination received during the first nine months of 2015. In September 2016 alone, the Division received six complaints alleging discrimination – three complaints regarding race, two complaints regarding national origin, and one complaint regarding religion. This is a decrease from both the total of eight recorded in September 2015 and the 15 recorded in August 2016. All complaints alleging discrimination are investigated to determine if there has been a violation(s) of the passenger’s civil rights.
The consumer report also includes data on on-time performance, tarmac delays, chronically delayed flights, and the causes of flight delays filed with the Department’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) by the reporting carriers. In addition, the consumer report contains a tally of aviation service complaints filed with DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division by consumers regarding a range of issues such as flight problems, baggage, reservation and ticketing, refunds, customer service, and disability. The report also includes statistics on mishandled baggage reports filed by consumers with the reporting carriers, data on oversales, and information about the total number of animals that died, were injured, or were lost during air transport in September, as filed by the air carriers with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division.
Consumers may file air travel civil rights and service complaints on the web athttp://airconsumer.dot.gov/escomplaint/ConsumerForm.cfm. This news release is available athttps://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/dot14116. The full consumer report is available atwww.transportation.gov/individuals/air-consumer/air-travel-consumer-reports. Detailed information on flight delays is available at www.bts.gov.
