DOT: U.S. airline on-time rates improve in November year-over-year

The Air Travel Consumer Report, under the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), recently published figures showing that the on-time performance rates for U.S. airlines improved in November.

The carriers included in the report had an 83.7 percent on-time arrival rate in November 2015, compared with 80.6 percent in November 2014. However, both of those figures fall short of the 87 percent rate the airlines registered in October 2015.

Also in November, the airlines reported a total of five tarmac delays that exceeded three hours for domestic flights. Three of these delays took place on Nov. 14 because of equipment failure that happened in New York City.

The airlines also reported a single tarmac delay that exceed four hours for an international flight. USDOT investigates all lengthy tarmac delays that are reported.

The report also said approximately 1.0 percent of scheduled domestic flights were canceled in November 2015, a slight increase from 0.9 percent in November 2014.

The report features data about consistently delayed flights, canceled flights and the reason for delayed flights. It also lists complaints that the Aviation Consumer Protection Division of USDOT addresses, such as baggage, flight problems, reservations, ticketing, consumer service, refunds, discrimination and disabled-passenger issues.