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Friday, February 04, 2000
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Fliers' laments increase
The Department of Transportation recorded 13,709 complaints from airline passengers in '99.
By David Ho
Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Airline passengers have a message: We will not go quietly from bad service on that last flight.
In 1999, the number of complaints to the Transportation Department concerning the 10 major U.S. carriers more than doubled, ballooning to 13,709 from 5,808 in 1998. This increase occurred while the number of passengers on those carriers increased by about 16 million between 1998 and 1999 to 553.8 million, a growth of about 3 percent, the department said.
Complaints could include such things as scheduling, overbooking, fares, baggage and service.
The 10 airlines themselves reported more than 2.5 million complaints about lost or damaged luggage.
"The irritation level is just a lot higher," said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association, a passenger advocacy group.
Stempler said years of increasing numbers of air travelers has led to full planes, stressed nerves and strained airline resources.
"We keep demanding of the airlines that they provide low fares, and one of the ways they do that is by tightening up the seat rows, by reducing the amount of food, by reducing the number of flight attendants. Then we complain about it," he said.
A major focus of traveler ire last year was America West, which had the highest rate of passenger complaints to the Transportation Department, nearly four for every 100,000 passengers. The average for all 10 major airlines was roughly 2 1/2 complaints for every 100,000 passengers.
Most of the America West complaints related to cancellations and delays, and if air travelers took attendance, the airline would be held after class for chronic tardiness. The Phoenix-based company, which is the No. 2 carrier into Las Vegas, had the poorest on-time arrival record of any major airline in 1999. Almost a third of its flights pulled up to terminal gates more than 15 minutes behind schedule.
TWA stood at the head of the class, with close to 81 percent of its flights delivering passengers on time, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report issued Wednesday. The Transportation Department report does not specify the reasons for flight delays, which might be caused by severe weather, air traffic control decisions, passenger problems or equipment failures.
The report showed that less than 70 percent of America West's flights arrived on time in 1999. The airline also had the most arrival delays in 1998.
America West spokeswoman Patty Nowack said she couldn't comment until reviewing the report.
Doing only slightly better than America West in terms of delays was Alaska Airlines, with 29 percent of its flights arriving late at the gate. U.S. Airways rounded out the bottom three with close to 29 percent of its flights being tardy.
In January, the Transportation Department's inspector general began accepting complaints from consumers concerned about airline overbooking and ticket prices.
Concerning reports of mishandled bags, United Airlines had the worst record, with 543,491 complaints.
Southwest Airlines had the lowest rate of complaints overall last year, with only 0.4 for every 100,000 air travelers. The airline also had the lowest percentage of reports concerning bags that were damaged, lost or delayed.
In 1998, Southwest had been the on-time arrival winner but slipped to No. 2 last year with an 80 percent on-time record.
Almost in a dead heat with Southwest, Northwest came in third for on-time arrivals, a big improvement for the airline that had ranked No. 9 in 1998.
The 10 air carriers were: Alaska, America West, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Southwest, TWA, United and US Airways.
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