Air Travel Complaints Soar Amid Summer Chaos
Air travel has been challenging this summer due to staff shortages and other factors. Most passengers have probably experience a delay or cancellation if they got on an airline during the summer months.
Airlines have canceled a huge number of flights through the first six months of 2022, 53,000 in total. These canceled flights have affected millions of passengers. So it’s no surprise that complaints to the Department of Transportation has also seen a sharp rise.
Complaints filed in the month of June this year were up 270 percent compared to the same time period in 2019, the last full pre-pandemic year. Actually, more complaints were filed in the first six months of this year (28,550), than in all of 2019, Washington Post reports.
But June figures are also up when compared to complaints filed a year ago. A total of 3,382 complaints were filed in the month of June for domestic airlines, and 2,020 for foreign airlines. In June 2021 those numbers were 1,678 and 1,742 respectively.
Nearly a third of the complaints, 29 percent, were made for delays, cancellations, or schedule changes. American Airlines had the biggest share of complaints, a total of 783. Next in line are United Airlines with 559 and Delta Air Lines with 451. The number of complaints about Delta was about four times higher than in 2021, while American and United saw roughly double the complaints compared to a year ago.
DOT said the government agency “routinely contacts airlines with widespread cancellations or delays to make clear their obligation to promptly refund passengers who choose not to accept the alternative offered for a canceled or significantly changed flight.”
You can see the full DoT August report here.
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