On Monday, the US Department of Transportation released its Air Travel Consumer Report for August 2024, a monthly roundup of key operational metrics, including on-time performance, flight cancelations, tarmac delays, mishandled baggage and personal mobility devices and incidents involving animals.

The gap between good and poor is wide

August’s Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) shows that 647,205 domestic flights were operated, 2.61% more than in August last year and 1.53% fewer month-over-month than the 657,233 flights operated in July 2024. In August 2024, the ten marketing carriers reported 660,639 scheduled domestic flights, with 2% or 13,434 of those canceled, compared to 2.9% in July 2024 and 1.5% in August 2023.

Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 NG and 737 MAX at Dallas Love FIeld DAL shutterstock_2428818329

Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock

Reliability can be measured by a variety of performance indicators, but while a delay is annoying, having the highest number of cancellations is probably a fair sign of an unreliable airline. Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines Network were equally the most reliable airlines in August, both canceling just 0.9% of their flights. Hawaiian Airlines filled the third spot, with 1.5% of its flights canceled.

Alaska and Hawaiian Airlines

Photo: Alaska Airlines

The US Department of Transportation (DOT) August ATCR reported that the three airlines canceling the most flights were JetBlue Airways (4.5%), Spirit Airlines (4.0%) and Frontier Airlines (3.3%). Putting that in perspective, the best performers canceled 0.9% of flights, all airlines combined canceled 2.0%, but the two worst performers canceled 4.5% and 4.0% of their flights, more than four times the cancelation rate of the best airlines and more than twice the industry figures.

JetBlue A320 Landing

Photo: JetBlue

On-time arrivals increased to 74.9% in August, up from 68.4% in July 2024 but down from 77.2% in August 2023. The year-to-date 2024 on-time arrival rate is 75.5%. The most punctual were Hawaiian Airlines (86.8%), Delta Air Lines Network (78.9%) and Southwest Airlines (78.8%), while the least on-time were JetBlue Airways (60.7%), Frontier Airlines (65.2%) and Spirit Airlines (67.1%), with a huge 26.1 percentage points separating first and worst.

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The things that drive customer complaints

In August this year, the reporting marketing carriers handled 42.5 million bags and mishandled just 0.64%, an improvement from the 0.75% recorded in June but higher than the 0.61% of bags mishandled in August 2023. The reporting carriers checked in 79,385 wheelchairs and scooters in August this year, mishandling 1,004 for a rate of 1.26%, lower than the 1.35% in July 2024 and the 1.52% mishandled in August 2023.

Busy Oakland Airport Gate 8A - A Southwest Airlines Gate With Wheelchairs

Photo: Joe Kunzler | Simple Flying

This is a metric that needs attention because although the percentage is low, it means that in August, 1,004 passengers were affected by mishandled wheelchairs and scooters. Walking out of an airport without your bag is one thing, but having your mobility taken away because a wheelchair or scooter was mishandled is far more serious and needs to be improved by all involved.

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DOT agrees and has proposed rulemaking that requires airlines to correct this or face an automatic violation of the Air Carrier Access Act regulations. The proposed changes include enhanced training requirements for airline personnel who provide hands-on transfer assistance to passengers and handle wheelchairs.

Incidents involving animals are under review

Two incidents involving the death, injury or loss of an animal while traveling by air were reported in August, including the death of one and injury to the other. That compared to three reports in July 2024 but was higher than the zero reports in August 2023.

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Photo: Southwest Airlines

DOT said its Office of Aviation Consumer Protection (OACP) is improving the options for covered carriers to submit their monthly and annual Reports on Incidents Involving Animals During Air Transport.

While that is developing OACP continues to collect and publish monthly incident reports but has permitted carriers to delay submission of the annual report on the number of animals carried and the total number of incidents. The annual data will be published when DOT receives carriers’ complete submissions for 2024.

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