Airlines report on domestic, international flight delays in May

The Department of Transportation’s Air Travel Consumer Report recently reported that airlines had 14 tarmac delays for domestic flights and two tarmac delays for intentional flights for May 2015.

The domestic flights were delayed for more than three hours, and the international flights were delayed for more than four hours. Ten of these delays happened on May 25 in Houston when there was severe weather. The Department of Transportation is investigating all of the tarmac delays that were reported.

International flights are not allowed to deny passengers the right to deplane if the delay lasts more than four hours. Domestic flights are not to deny passengers deplaning rights if the tarmac delay exceeds three hours. The only exceptions to these rules are reasons involving security, safety or air traffic control.

The Transportation Department gathered this information as all foreign and U.S. airlines with one or more aircrafts that seat 30 or more passengers are required to report any lengthy delays on the tarmacs of U.S. airports.

The largest airline in the U.S. reported having an on-time arrival rate amount to 80.5 percent for May. This shows a 76.9 percent increase compared to the rate from May 2014 and a decrease by 81.8 percent from April 2015.