Fliers' complaints hit 7-year high
More complaints were filed in July than any other month in the last seven years.
— -- Fliers in July filed more complaints with the government about airline service than for any other month in the last seven years, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday.
The DOT received 1,455 July complaints about U.S. airlines canceling flights, losing luggage and other problems, more than double the 679 received in July 2006. It was the highest since August 2000, which was near the peak of the pre-9/11 travel boom.
Airlines blame the high number of July complaints on bad weather, packed planes, airport congestion and an aging air-traffic control system.
The DOT's monthly report on airline performance is the latest evidence of a rough summer for airlines and travelers. As of last week, the Federal Aviation Administration had logged a record number of summer flight delays. FlightStats, a firm that tracks flights worldwide, says U.S. airlines have canceled more than 30,000 flights this summer, nearly twice as many as last summer.
Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways lcc was July's most complained-about airline, a distinction it has held every month since March. US Airways passengers logged nearly five DOT complaints for every 100,000 passengers boarded, vs. an industry rate of about two per 100,000 passengers.
US Airways acknowledged Tuesday that it is still struggling with problems stemming from its 2-year-old merger with America West and US Airways' deep cost cuts before the merger.
"This summer has been as bad as it's probably going to get" for US Airways' customer service, airline spokesman Philip Gee said.
He said the airline's July complaint rate is a lagging indicator of computer problems US Airways suffered in March when the company merged the old US Airways and America West reservations computer systems into one. The systems merger went awry, paralyzing US Airways computers at airports and causing widespread flight delays.
Gee says the resulting complaints overwhelmed the airline, and many passengers grew so frustrated at waiting weeks for responses that they complained to the DOT.
US Airways has remedied that, he said: "Right now, we're dealing with complaints logged today."
Gee noted that 66.3% of US Airways' July flights arrived on time, an improvement from June but still worse than July's industry average of 69.8% on time.
He said August numbers will show US Airways did better, with about 70% of flights on time. He said US Airways hopes fewer flight delays will reduce the number of complaints.
Among major carriers, American amr had the worst monthly on-time record, with 63.4% of July flights arriving on time.