Feds Say Airlines Are Getting Worse, Complaints Double In 2023

There aren’t many those who legitimately enjoy flying, and I’m sure there’s an extended list of things that the majority of us would reasonably be doing than squeezing into an aluminum tube for a couple of hours. In recent months, nonetheless, it seems like flying has gotten worse, and now there are stats to prove just how awful it has been for a lot of us.

In the primary three months of 2023, complaints about airlines within the U.S. were up 88 percent over the identical period in 2022, in response to a report from the Associated Press. In total, the variety of complaints against airlines hit 24,965 between January and the tip of March 2023.

While all complaints were on the rise, it’s alarming to learn that the variety of issues regarding accessibility almost doubled throughout the period. Because the Associated Press explains:

The Transportation Department said that disability-related complaints, resembling delaying or damaging wheelchairs, are also up from last yr. There have been 636 such complaints in the primary quarter, nearly double the 380 filed throughout the same period of 2022. The agency says it investigates each of those disability complaints.

However it wasn’t just at the beginning of the yr when airline service was awful. In keeping with the report, the variety of complaints filed against airlines was up 32 percent in April and 49 percent in May with greater than 6,400 complaints being lodged with the U.S. Transportation Department.

In actual fact, the agency says things have gotten so bad that it hasn’t been capable of process all of the complaints it’s received this yr, so May is the most recent month it might offer stats for. What’s more, these figures only relate to complaints lodged with the Transportation Department, the AP warns that “many more complaints” were filed with individual airlines throughout the same period.

In addition to an increase within the variety of complaints, the DOT warned that some issues could stem from airlines announcing “flight schedules that they’re unlikely to have the option to perform.” As such, the agency is now investigating “several domestic airlines” and warned that they may face a hefty tremendous if found at fault.