Was air travel 70 percent worse in April of this year than it was during April 2016?
If you were to judge by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics report, published this week, then it was. Consumer complaints registered with the Department of Transportation spiked to 1,909 past April from 1,123 this April. Those numbers include mishandling by tour operators, travel agents, and airlines.
Complaints leveled especially against U.S. airlines were up 64 percent, from 870 to 1,430. The complaints were logged against American (324 for the month), followed closely by Delta (297), and United (265). Those are numbers, at least in part representing the dimensions of the carriers.
In relative terms, Spirit has been the most-complained-about carrier, with 7.2 complaints per 100,000 emplanements. United has been second-worst, with 3.0 complaints per 100,000. And Southwest, that is one of the largest U.S. carriers, was the very best, with just 0.50 complaints per 100,000 emplanements.
But let us get back into the year-over-year (and month-over-month) spike in complaints. What is with that?
There’s no question that the current spate of airline misdeeds played a role in increasing the criticism numbers, raising flyers’ consciousness and stoking their own tempers. United’s widely publicized forcible ejection of a paying passenger on flight UA3411, along with the airline’s succeeding self-defeating series of public statements and sort-of-apologies, was just one of several events that cast the airline industry in a starkly unflattering light. Complaints? I have complaints!
What’s up for debate is whether the criticism surge is indicative of a long-term downward trend in customer satisfaction, or if the amounts will settle back to a more favorable range once the current nasty events are no more top-of-mind. Only time will tell.
Looking at the DOT’s criticism data is a reminder of the limits of their report. Most travelers are unaware that complaints for their reports gathers and rather direct their complaint correspondence direct to the airlines — which, are in a position to provide relief, and after all, caused the problem in the first place. So the genuine trove that is complaint-data is in the hands.
This leads to a proposal: The DOT needs to require their criticism stats to be published by the airlines. The airline information can be viewed either individually or along with the DOT’s. Either way, it would provide a more complete picture of the airlines are meeting, or not meeting , the public’s expectations.
Reader Reality Check
What’s your satisfaction with all the airlines upward trending or downward?