U.S. DOT: Flight Delays, Mishandled Bags, Complaints Up in 2005

The report also includes airline reports of involuntary denied boarding, or bumping, for 2005 and the fourth quarter of last year. In 2005, the U.S. carriers that report on-time performance, mishandled baggage data and bumping totals had a bumping rate of 0.89 per 10,000 passengers, slightly higher than the 0.86 rate for 2004. For the fourth quarter of 2005, the carriers recorded a bumping rate of 0.83 per 10,000 passengers, down from the 0.90 rate recorded during the fourth quarter of 2004.

Incidents Involving Pets

In December, carriers reported one incident involving pets while traveling by air, involving the loss of a pet, down from the two incidents reported in November. Carriers first began reporting pet incidents in May 2005.

December Complaints About Airline Service

In December, the department received 640 complaints about airline service from consumers, down 34.6 percent from the 979 complaints filed in December 2004 but up 22.1 percent from the total of 524 received in November 2005.

Complaints About Treatment of Disabled Passengers

The report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with DOT in December and January-December 2005 against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with disabilities. The Department received a total of 30 disability-related complaints in December, down 30.2 percent from the total of 43 filed in December 2004 but 7.1 percent more than the total of 28 complaints filed in November 2005. For all of last year, the Department received 507 disability-related complaints, a decrease of 3.4 percent from the total of 525 received in 2004.

Complaints About Discrimination

In December, the Department received 13 complaints alleging discrimination by airlines due to factors other than disability - such as race, religion, national origin or sex - the same number as in December 2004 but up from the total of four filed in November 2005. For all of last year, the department received 128 discrimination complaints, up 8.5 percent from the 118 received in 2004.

Consumers may file their complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer Protection Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, Room 4107, 400 7th St., S.W., Washington, DC 20590; by e-mail at airconsumer@ost.dot.gov; by voice mail at (202) 366-2220 or by TTY at (202) 366-0511.

Consumers who want on-time performance data for specific flights should call their airline ticket offices or their travel agents. This information is available on the computerized reservation systems used by these agents. Detailed flight delay information is also available on the BTS site on the World Wide Web at http://www.bts.gov.

The Air Travel Consumer Report can be found on DOT's World Wide Web site at http://airconsumer.ost.dot.gov. It is available in "pdf" and Microsoft Word format.

Air Travel Consumer Report December 2005

Key On-Time Performance and Flight Cancellation Statistics

Based on Data Filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics by the 20 Reporting Carriers

Overall

71.0 percent on-time arrivals

Highest On-Time Arrival Rates

1. Hawaiian Airlines - 94.2 percent

2. Independence Air - 78.7 percent

3. America West Airlines- 78.5 percent

Lowest On-Time Arrival Rates

1. JetBlue Airways - 63.7 percent

2. Atlantic Southeast Airlines - 65.4 percent

3. Northwest Airlines - 65.6 percent

Most Frequently Delayed Flights

1. Atlantic Southeast Airlines flight 4148 from Dallas-Fort Worth to Salt Lake City - late 100 percent of the time.

1. Southwest Airlines flight 3462 from Houston Hobby Airport to New Orleans - late 100 percent of the time.

3. Southwest Airlines flight 2030 from New Orleans to Houston Hobby Airport - late 95.83 percent of the time

4. American Airlines flight 795 from Miami to St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands - late 94.12 percent of the time

4. American Eagle Airlines flight 4685 from New York JFK to Chicago - late 94.12 percent of the time

4. Northwest Airlines flight 97 from Minneapolis-St. Paul to Honolulu - late 94.12 percent of the time

4. SkyWest Airlines flight 6171 from Sacramento, CA to San Francisco - late 94.12 percent of the time

4. SkyWest Airlines flight 5814 from Birmingham, AL to Chicago - late 94.12 percent of the time

Highest Rates of Canceled Flights

1. American Eagle Airlines - 3.9 percent

2. SkyWest Airlines - 3.3 percent

3. Atlantic Southeast Airlines - 3.3 percent

Lowest Rates of Canceled Flights

1. Hawaiian Airlines - 0.0 percent*