If the volume of customer complaints submitted to the US government last year is any indication, air travel became even more unpleasant.
The Transportation Department reported on Friday that compared to almost 86,000 the previous year, it received nearly 97,000 complaints in 2023.
According to the government, there were so many complaints that gathering the statistics and going through the filings took until July.
Since the coronavirus epidemic shut down air travel in 2020, there have been more complaints from customers about airlines than ever before.
At that time, airlines were slow to issue reimbursements to passengers.
FlightAware data shows that last year’s 116,700 cancellations of U.S. flights (or 1.2% of total) were significantly lower than the 210,500 cancellations (or 2.3% of total) in 2022.
Despite this, there was a rise in complaints.
Still, at almost 21% of all flights, delays last year were stubbornly high.
About 1.3% of all flights have been cancelled so far this year, which is still a very low percentage, but delays are still at 21%.
While a quarter of complaints last year concerned overseas airlines, more than two-thirds concerned American airlines. The majority of the remainder dealt with tour guides and travel agencies.
When compared to 2022, complaints regarding how passengers with disabilities were treated increased by more than 25%.
Even though they were few in number, discrimination complaints increased significantly. The majority dealt with race or country origin.
According to the Transportation Department, part of the reason for the rise in complaints is that more customers are aware of their rights and the process for filing a complaint.
The department claimed to have assisted South-west Airlines customers in receiving refunds and reimbursements of more than $600 million following the airline’s December 2022 cancellation of nearly 17,000 flights.
Moreover, South-west settled a $35 million fine.
Airlines don’t disclose the number of complaints they receive from passengers who either don’t know how to report to the government or don’t know who to complain to.
Laptops 1000In an effort to improve its ability to monitor the airline sector, the Transportation Department is updating its complaint handling procedure.
But today, the department publishes complaint figures several months after they should.
Figures for the second half of 2023 were not released until Friday.
