Air travel is getting more unpleasant
WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Air travel got more unpleasant last year, if the number of customer grievances submitted with the U.S. federalgovernment is any step.
The Transportation Department stated Friday that it got almost 97,000 problems in 2023, up from about 86,000 the year previously. The department stated there were so lotsof grievances that it took till July to sort through the filings and puttogether the figures.
That’s the greatest number of customer problems about airlinecompanies because 2020, when airlinecompanies were sluggish to offer clients refunds after the coronavirus pandemic shut down air travel.
The boost in problems came even as airlinecompanies canceled far less U.S. flights — 116,700, or 1.2% of the overall, last year, compared with about 210,500, or 2.3%, in 2022, according to FlightAware information. However, hold-ups stayed stubbornly high last year, at around 21% of all flights.
So far this year, cancellations stay reasonably low — about 1.3% of all flights — however hold-ups are still running around 21%.
More than two-thirds of all problems last year dealt with U.S. airlinecompanies, however a quarter covered foreign airlinecompanies. Most of the rest were about travel representatives and trip operators.
Complaints about dealingwith guests with specialsneeds increased by more than one-fourth compared with2022 Complaints of discrimination, while little in number, likewise increased greatly. Most were about race or nationwide origin.
The Transportation Department stated the boost in problems was partially the outcome of more customers understanding about their rights and the capability to file a problem. The department stated it assisted Southwest