Flight complaints in May remained 237 percent above pre-pandemic levels

Air travel complaints remained well above pre-pandemic levels in May as passengers dealt with travel snafus, but complaints fell from the previous month, the Department of Transportation (DOT) announced on Wednesday.

DOT said it received 4,344 complaints about airline service in May, down 14.5 percent from April but still 237 percent above the 1,289 complaints the department received in May 2019.

The measure is the latest data portraying a chaotic air travel season in recent months as the industry grapples with resurging demand that has surpassed any other point since the start of the pandemic.

The month of May included the busy Memorial Day travel weekend, when millions of Americans took to the skies as airlines canceled and delayed thousands of flights.

Airlines have struggled to accommodate the growing passenger demand after downsizing near the start of the pandemic, when the public largely stayed out of the nation’s airports for months amid public health concerns. 

DOT and the Federal Aviation Administration have criticized airlines for the staffing issues after they received billions in pandemic aid to stay afloat, although trade groups representing the airlines say the aid was not enough to retain their entire pre-pandemic staffing levels.

The most frequent complaint received by DOT in May — roughly 30 percent — was related to refunds. 

Under federal regulations, passengers are entitled to refunds if their flight is canceled or experiences a “significant delay” and the passenger chooses not to travel. But DOT has not defined what threshold merits a “significant” delay, leaving refund decisions to be made on a case-by-case basis.

As frustrations mount over recent delays, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has made enforcing federal refund policies a cornerstone of DOT’s response, repeatedly highlighting the department’s enforcement of the policy.

The second-most common complaint in May, which comprised 23.8 percent of the total number, concerned cancellations, delays and other schedule deviations.

DOT said 77.2 percent of flights arrived on time in May, down slightly from the 77.9 on-time arrival rate in May 2019. Airlines canceled 2 percent of their scheduled domestic flights in May, DOT said.

Many airlines have preemptively trimmed their flight schedules in recent weeks following widespread passenger frustrations.

Some political figures, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Pennsylvania Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman have called for fining airlines for various deviations from their flight schedules.