WASHINGTON — Air travel got even more disastrous last year, judging by the number of consumer complaints filed with the U.S. government.
The Department of Transportation said Friday that it received nearly 97,000 complaints in 2023, up from about 86,000 the year before. The department said it received so many complaints that it took until July to sort through the filings and compile the figures.
This marks the highest number of consumer complaints against airlines since 2020, when airlines were reluctant to offer refunds to customers after the COVID-19 pandemic halted air travel.
The complaints increased even as airlines canceled about 210,500 U.S. flights in 2022, or 2.3% of flights, down from 116,700 last year, or 1.2%, according to FlightAware data. But delays remained high last year, accounting for about 21% of all flights.
Cancellations have remained relatively low at about 1.3% of all flights so far this year, but delays are still at about 21%.
More than two-thirds of complaints last year were about U.S. airlines, while a quarter were about foreign airlines. Most of the rest were about travel agents and tour operators.
Complaints about the treatment of passengers with disabilities increased by more than a quarter compared to 2022. There was also a sharp increase in a smaller number of discrimination complaints, most of which were about race or nationality.
Airlines receive many more complaints from travelers who don’t know how to or don’t care to file complaints with the government, but the airlines don’t release those figures.
The Department of Transport is modernizing its complaints system, which it says will allow it to better oversee the aviation industry, but the department is currently months behind on releasing complaint numbers, with figures for the second half of 2023 not released until Friday.
———
The Department of Transportation’s online complaint form can be found at https://secure.dot.gov/air-travel-complaint .