Air travel The situation has worsened over the past 12 months, judging by the variety of consumer complaints filed with the U.S. government.
The Ministry of Transport said Friday that it received nearly 97,000 complaints in 2023, up from about 86,000 the 12 months before. The department said it received so many complaints that it took until July to review the records and compile the numbers.
This is the very best variety of Consumer complaints about airlines since 2020, when airlines were reluctant to issue refunds to customers after the coronavirus pandemic brought air travel to a standstill.
The increase in complaints occurred even Airlines canceled significantly fewer flights to the USA – 116,700 or 1.2% of the whole last 12 months, in comparison with about 210,500 or 2.3%, in 2022in response to data from FlightAware. However, delays remained stubbornly high last 12 months and amounted to around 21% of all flights.
So far this 12 months, the variety of cancellations has been relatively low (about 1.3 percent of all flights), but delays are still around 21 percent.
More than two thirds of all complaints treated last 12 months US airlinesbut 1 / 4 concerned foreign airlines. The majority of the remaining figures concerned travel agencies and tour operators.
Complaints about treatment Passengers with disabilities increased by greater than 1 / 4 in comparison with 2022. The variety of discrimination complaints, although low, also increased sharply. Most were about racing or national origin.
Airlines receive way more complaints from travelers who have no idea the best way to complain to the federal government or who don’t even try. However, airlines don’t disclose these figures.
The Ministry of Transport is modernizing its complaints system, which the agency says will help higher monitor the aviation industry. However, the ministry is now publishing the criticism figures many months late. The figures for the second half of 2023 were only published on Friday.
