Consumer Complaints Against Top U.S. Airlines by Category

	Site Map \| FAQ in Daily Almanac for Dec 3, 2009 Search White Pages
Skip Navigation Home Winter Holidays Atlas Encyclopedia Dictionary Thesaurus Features Quizzes Timelines Countries Slideshows

Fact Monster Kid's reference,
games, quizzes

Editor's Favorites

World > Travel & Transportation > Transportation

Consumer Complaints Against Top U.S. Airlines by Category

Complaint category	1990	1991	1992	1993	1994	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002
TOTAL	7,703	6,106	5,639	4,438	5,179	4,629	5,782	6,394	7,994	17,381	20,564	16,508	9,471
Flight problems¹	3,034	1,877	1,624	1,211	1,586	1,133	1,628	1,699	2,277	6,469	8,698	5,480	2,031
Customer service²	758	714	695	599	805	667	999	1,418	1,715	3,664	4,074	2,860	1,715
Baggage	1,329	883	752	627	761	628	882	826	1,108	2,353	2,753	2,490	1,421
Reservations/ticketing/ boarding³	624	659	680	577	598	666	857	904	1,137	1,328	1,405	1,611	1,159
Refunds	701	783	721	482	393	576	521	531	602	940	803	1,347	1,106
Oversales⁴	399	301	265	257	301	263	353	414	388	673	759	638	454
Fares⁵	312	388	573	398	267	185	180	195	277	584	708	666	523
Disability³	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	526	612	508	477
Advertising	96	96	54	51	94	66	61	57	40	57	42	61	68
Tours	29	23	12	16	127	18	16	13	23	28	25	n.a.	n.a.
Smoking⁶	74	30	25	30	20	15	13	5	4	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Credit⁶	5	10	10	4	2	4	3	1	1	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.
Other⁶	342	342	228	186	225	408	269	331	422	759	675	650	322
Animals⁷	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	n.a.	0	1	6	0

NOTE: Consumer complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation.

1. Cancellations, delays, and other deviations from schedule.

2. Rude or unhelpful employees, inadequate meals or cabin service, treatment of delayed passengers.

3. Effective with the Sept. 1999 report, “disability” complaints are listed as a separate category. Previously, disability complaints were included in the “Reservations/ticketing/boarding” category.

4. All bumping problems, whether or not airline complied with DOT regulations.

5. Incorrect or incomplete information about fares, discount fare conditions and availability, overcharges, fare increases, and level of fares in general.

6. Complaints about “smoking” and “credit,” which were formerly separate categories, are now included in the “other” category.

7. Effective with the Oct. 2000 report, “Animals” was added as a new category.

Source: Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, U.S. Dept. of Transportation, Air Travel Consumer Report.

Licensed Drivers and Vehicle Registrations

Transportation

Principal Means of Transportation to Work

More on Consumer Complaints Against Top U S Airlines by Category from Infoplease:

Complaint Resources - Complaint Resources Source: The Federal Citizen Information Center. Here's a list of federal ...
airliner: meaning and definitions - airliner: Definition and Pronunciation
summer complaint: meaning and definitions - summer complaint: Definition and Pronunciation
complaint: meaning and definitions - complaint: Definition and Pronunciation
EU Blacklist of Unsafe Airlines - EU Blacklist of Unsafe Airlines “Flying Coffins” are banned from landing in Europe In ...

Premium Partner Content

Related content from HighBeam Research on: Consumer Complaints Against Top U.S. Airlines by Category

New hype over service in the skies. (airline report cards) (U.S. News & World Report)

Bill Gates's legal problems get bundled; the nation's new antitrust czar is showing his mettle; how will business be affected? (Justice Department antitrust chief Joel Klein brings antitrust actions against Microsoft and other companies)(Brief Article) (U.S. News & World Report)

Infoplease Tools