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Think it's getting awfully hard to elect a new president in America these days? Just try getting an on-time flight to New York's LaGuardia Airport!
Seriously folks, according to the Department of Transportation, the seven most frequently delayed flights in September were operated by US Airways, all having New York’s LaGuardia Airport as their destination. These were flights 766 from Greenville/Spartanburg, S.C.; 1876 from Charlotte, N.C.; 1107 from Raleigh-Durham, N.C.; 1639 from Louisville, Ky.; 407 from Columbus, Ohio; 464 from Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Va.; and 356 from Pittsburgh. How often were these flights late? They were late 100 percent of the time.
That's just one of the tales of travelers' troubles detailed in DOT's first monthly Air Travel Consumer Report containing information about airline on-time arrivals, mishandled baggage, disabled access problems and other service complaints
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In releasing the report, U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater said
that DOT has launched a broad-ranging effort to bring about both short and
long-term improvements in customer service. "Our effort to improve customer
service ranks second only to safety, which is President Clinton’s and Vice
President Gore’s highest transportation priority," the Secretary said.
As part of the effort to improve customer service, DOT held roundtable
meetings in Washington in late August with representatives of airlines, consumer
groups, airports, labor and other stakeholders. In addition, Secretary Slater
has traveled around the country to the nation’s busiest airports to meet with
frontline employees and consumers. From the information gathered, DOT developed an Oct. 11 report identifying the airlines’
"best practices" in providing better service and information to their
customers. DOT also convened a task force to consider ways to improve the
on-time information that airlines and DOT provide to consumers. Finally, the
department’s Federal Aviation Administration began efforts to expedite
investment in technology and infrastructure modernization. According to information filed with DOT’s Bureau of Transportation
Statistics, the 10 largest U.S. carriers posted a 78.1 percent on-time record in
September, better than August’s rate of 70.0 percent but not as good as
September 1999's 79.3 percent. Trans World Airlines had the best on-time rate in
September with 85.5 percent, followed by Northwest Airlines at 81.8 and
Southwest Airlines at 81.7. United Airlines had the lowest percentage of on-time
flights at 71.8, with US Airways ranked ninth at 75.1 percent and America West
Airlines eighth at 75.6.
The report contains a note reminding consumers that flight delays can be
caused by a variety of factors. The data on which this report is based do not
identify the cause, only the occurrence, of flight delays.
In addition, this report also contains a tabulation of complaints filed with
DOT in July against specific airlines regarding the treatment of passengers with
disabilities. Consumers filed a total of 47 disability-related complaints in
September, an increase of 14.6 percent from the 41 complaints filed in August
and 6.8 percent more than the 44 registered in September 1999. For the first
nine months of 2000, the department received 518 disability-related complaints,
a 31 percent increase from the 394 received during January-September 1999. Consumers may file their complaints in writing with the Aviation Consumer
Protection Division, U.S. Department of Transportation, C-75, 400 7th
St., S.W., Room 4107, Washington, D.C. 20590, by e-mail at airconsumer@ost.dot.gov,or
by voice mail at (202) 366-2220. The Air Travel Consumer Report can be found on DOT’s World Wide Web site at
http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/atcr00.htm.
It is available in "html" and "pdf" format. In it's ongoing effort to make you a truly happy, and thus frequent, flier,
the DOT is full of advice. Next page > How to Avoid, or At Least Deal
With Flight Delays > Page 1, 2
