Complaints About Airline Service

The Department continues to receive a high volume of air travel service complaints against airlines and ticket agents and its Office of Aviation Consumer Protection is processing them. The release of consumer complaint data in the ATCR has been delayed primarily because of the time needed to review and process these consumer complaints. The Department has been examining how best to review and process the consumer complaints received to avoid reporting delays as it is increasingly clear that consumer complaints are not returning to pre-pandemic levels. This review led the Department to seek a Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) investment to help modernize OACP’s outdated consumer complaint and case tracking application system that assists thousands of consumers each year. On 29 September 2023, the TMF announced that it was awarding DOT an $8 million grant towards this modernization

The 598,987 flights operated in November 2023 were 106.76% of the 561,067 flights operated in November 2022. Operated flights in November 2023 were up 6.76% year-over-year from the 561,067 flights operated in November 2022 and down 5.43% month-over-month from 633,349 flights operated in October 2023.

In November 2023, the 10 marketing network carriers reported 599,814 scheduled domestic flights, 827 (0.1%) of which were canceled. In October 2023, airlines scheduled 635,538 domestic flights, of which 2,189 (0.3%) were canceled. In November 2022, airlines scheduled 567,507 domestic flights, of which 6,440 (1.1%) were canceled.