Consumer complaints about airlines jumped nearly 270 percent in June 2022 compared to June 2019, as well as 40 percent compared to last year, a new Department of Transportation air travel consumer report revealed Friday.
Consumers filed more than 5,800 complaints in June alone, and 28,550 complaints in the first six months of 2022. The first half of this year saw more complaints than all of 2019 and an increase of 27.8 percent from the same period in 2021.
Service complaints were up nearly 35 percent from May to June, according to the report. About 58 percent of complaints were against U.S. carriers.
Complaints covered a range of issues; 29 percent of complaints mentioned flight cancellations, delays and schedule changes, while 24 percent of complaints related to refunds.
The Washington Post noted that the month of June included a chaotic travel weekend for Father’s Day that saw more than 3,000 flights canceled and more than 19,000 delayed.
The three marketing carriers with the lowest on-time arrival rates in June were Allegiant Air, JetBlue and Frontier. Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines had the highest on-time arrival rates.
Airlines canceled more than 3 percent of scheduled domestic flights in June, compared to 1.6 percent of flights cancelled in 2021 and 2.1 percent in 2019.
The DOT said in a statement that its office of aviation consumer protection “routinely contacts airlines with widespread cancellations or delays to make clear their obligation to promptly refund passengers who choose not to accept the alternative offered for a canceled or significantly changed flight.”
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote letters to 10 U.S. airline CEOs this month calling the rise in flight disruptions “unacceptable.”