DOT sees rise in airline consumer complaints

The Aviation Consumer Protection Division, a branch of the Department of Transportation (DOT), recently reported that it has had an increase in airline consumer complaints that have been filed.

This report accounts for just the first six months of 2015 and compares these figures to the data from the first six months of 2014. These show that complaints have risen by 20.3 percent.

Between January and June 2015, the DOT stated that it has received 9,542 different consumer complaints. The sum complaints from the first six months of 2014 amount to 7,935.

In June of 2015, there were 2,052 complaints from consumers about the airline service, which is an increase of 47.3 percent when compared to the 1,393 complains from June 2014. It is also a 37.5 percent increase compared to the 1,492 complaints from May 2015.

Additionally, airlines have confirmed that there were two tarmac delays that lasted over three hours for domestic flights. There were not any tarmac delays exceeding four hours for international flights. These delays are currently being investigated by the DOT.

The report includes information about cancellations, on-time performance, causes of flight delays, and chronically delayed flights. All of this information was filed by the reporting carriers with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS).