Airline Consumer Complaints Dropped in November 2013

Fewer travelers had complaints about their airline experience in November of 2013 compared to the previous month of October, and compared year-over-year to November of 2012, according to the Department of Transportation’s monthly Air Travel Consumer Report released this morning.

The Department received 755 complaints in November 2013, down 23.6 percent from the 988 complaints filed in November 2012 and down 11.9 percent from the 857 complaints received in October 2013.

Of the 16 major U.S.-based airlines, Alaska Airlines had the least complaints, 0.33 per 100,000 enplanements, in November of 2013. Frontier Airlines had the worst, with 3.59 complaints per 100,000 enplanements.

Only five of the 16 airlines had more complaints this past November than they did in November of 2012. Overall, there were 0.85 complaints per 100,000 compared to 1.07 in November of 2012.

According to the release, airlines also reported 11 tarmac delays of more than three hours on domestic flights and four tarmac delays of more than four hours on international flights in November.  All of the reported tarmac delays involved flights that arrived at Los Angeles International Airport on Nov. 1 that were delayed due to a shooting at the airport.  All of the delays are under investigation by the DOT.

Complaint categories, according to the DOT, include:

Flight Problems: Cancellations, delays, or any other deviations from schedule, whether planned or unplanned. 

Oversales: All bumping problems, whether or not the airline complied with DOT oversales regulations.

Reservations, Ticketing, Boarding: Airline or travel agent mistakes made in reservations and ticketing; problems in making reservations and obtaining tickets due to busy telephone lines or waiting in line, or delays in mailing tickets; problems boarding the aircraft (except oversales).

Fares: Incorrect or incomplete information about fares, discount fare conditions and availability, overcharges, fare increases and level of fares in general.

Refunds: Problems in obtaining refunds for unused or lost tickets, fare adjustments, or bankruptcies.

Baggage: Claims for lost, damaged or delayed baggage, charges for excess baggage, carry-on problems, and difficulties with airline claims procedures.

Customer Service: Rude or unhelpful employees, inadequate meals or cabin service, treatment of delayed passengers.

Disability: Civil rights complaints by air travelers with disabilities.

Advertising: Advertising that is unfair, misleading or offensive to consumers.

Discrimination: Civil rights complaints by air travelers (other than disability); for example, complaints based on race, national origin, religion, etc.

Animals: Loss, injury or death of an animal during air transport provided by an air carrier.

Other: Frequent flyer, smoking, tours credit, cargo problems, security, airport facilities, claims for bodily injury, and others not classified above.

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