Dallas:
Think flying is getting worse?
More flights are late, more bags are getting lost, and customers are lodging more complaints about US airlines, government data show. Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State and one of the co-authors of the annual report, said passengers already know that air travel is getting worse. “We just got the numbers to prove it.”
Among other findings in the report:
Lateness: The percentage of flights that arrived on time fell to 76.2 per cent last year from 78.4 per cent in 2013. Best: Hawaiian Airlines. Worst: Envoy Air, which operates most American Eagle flights.
Lost bags: The rate of lost, stolen or delayed bags rose 13 per cent in 2014. Best: Virgin America. Worst: Envoy. Airlines lose one bag for every 275 or so passengers, but at Envoy, the rate is one lost bag for every 110 passengers, according to government figures.
Overbooking: The rate of passengers getting bumped from flights rose 3 per cent. Best: Virgin America. Worst: a tie, between SkyWest and its ExpressJet subsidiary.
Complaints: Consumer complaints to the government jumped 22 per cent in 2014. Best: Alaska Airlines. Worst: Frontier.
On-time performance fell and complaint rates rose at American, United, Delta and Southwest. The researchers blamed consolidation through mergers, which has reduced competition.
Headley said airlines performed better in the years after 2001, when travel demand fell and planes were less crowded. Airlines were also losing money. They returned to profitability when the airlines left after mergers limited flights to keep fares up. The average plane is now more than 80 per cent full at most airlines, and many flights are oversold.
“They have put the same number of people in fewer aeroplanes,” Headley said in an interview. “Anytime the system ramps up, it goes haywire.”
The annual report is now in its 25th year.
