Dissatisfaction with airlines at record level

Jonathan D. Salant

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Airline flights are being delayed more than ever and passenger complaints have reached record levels, according to a new government report.

The Transportation Department's inspector general reported last week that delays rose 58 percent and canceled flights grew by 68 percent in the four years from 1995 and 1999. Complaints, meanwhile, increased 16 percent in one year -- from 1999 to 2000.

During the first nine months of 2000, one of every four flights was canceled, delayed or diverted, affecting 119 million passengers, the inspector general found. The average delay was more than 50 minutes.

"Meeting the anticipated demand for air travel is an urgent issue," the inspector general wrote.

Congestion in the air has led to a record number of air traffic control errors -- 1,154 last year -- that allowed two airplanes to fly closer together than allowed under Federal Aviation Administration standards. Congestion on the ground, meanwhile, resulted in a new record of runway incidents -- 400 last year -- that could have led to a collision.

The inspector general, the agency's watchdog, issued its findings in response to a request by congressional Republican leaders to identify priorities for the Transportation Department.

The report recommends that the Transportation Department develop plans to handling the demand, including new technology and building new runways. Without any action, problems are expected to get worse: The number of airline passengers is projected to increase by 50 percent, from over 600 million last year to more than 900 million in 2010.

In April, President Clinton signed legislation to provide $40 billion for aviation, allowing more flights at Chicago's O'Hare, New York's LaGuardia and Kennedy, and Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National airports.

The bill also allowed airports to raise taxes on passengers from $3 to $4.50 a person, a move that could bring in an extra $700 million a year for local airport projects.

In 1999, while Congress considered legislation to force airlines to treat passengers better, the industry announced its own plans to improve customer service, including mobile computers to help rebook passengers.

The action came after Northwest Airlines stranded 6,240 travelers on its planes in Detroit, some for more than eight hours, during a January 1999 snowstorm.

Last month, however, passengers shuttled on and off a Northwest plane three times over nine hours because of mechanical and weather problems, before the Detroit-to-Miami flight was canceled.