Record number of complaints made by American air travellers
The US Department of Transportation (DOT) received so many complaints against airlines and ticket agents last year that it was forced to delay releasing the data.
Now, with the data for the full calendar fully available, the DOT has confirmed that 2023 was a record year for complaints, bringing the total number of submissions to 96,853, matched only by 2020.
And it admitted the release of the submissions data in the Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) was delayed primarily because of the high volume of complaints against airlines and ticket agents received by the Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) and the time needed to review and process these consumer complaints using the Department’s outdated legacy consumer complaint application system.
Over the past three years, complaints made up an average of 91% of consumer submissions.
Breaking down the data shows that of the 96,853 submissions received in 2023, 67,661 concerned US carriers, 24,991 concerned foreign air carriers and 3,162 concerned travel companies.
Further analysis shows there was a total of 2,685 disability-related complaints while 223 were for discrimination.
The department has been actively working on modernising its system for handling consumer complaints with the support of a Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) investment to improve the customer experience for the tens of thousands of consumers who use the system each year.
The modernisation of the system will also enable OACP to engage in oversight of the airline industry more effectively.
As DOT modernises its system, given the continued high volume of air travel service complaints concerning airlines and ticket agents, DOT has revised how it processes consumer complaints for efficiency which has resulted in less granular data being available in the ATCR.
Except for displaying civil rights complaints in a similar manner as before, the ATCR displays consumer submissions (complaints, inquiries, and opinions) as opposed to complaints for June-December 2023 and compares submissions received in 2023 to the total submissions received for the same period in 2022.
The department will revert to displaying detailed complaint data in the ATCR in a similar manner as before once its new modernised system is operational.
