There aren’t many individuals that legitimately take pleasure in flying, and I’m certain there’s an extended checklist of issues that almost all of us would relatively be doing than squeezing into an aluminum tube for a couple of hours. In latest months, nevertheless, it looks like flying has gotten worse, and now there are stats to show simply how terrible it has been for many people.
Within the first three months of 2023, complaints about airways within the U.S. had been up 88 p.c over the identical interval in 2022, in keeping with a report from the Related Press. In complete, the variety of complaints towards airways hit 24,965 between January and the top of March 2023.
Whereas all complaints had been on the rise, it’s alarming to study that the variety of points regarding accessibility virtually doubled through the interval. Because the Related Press explains:
The Transportation Division stated that disability-related complaints, equivalent to delaying or damaging wheelchairs, are additionally up from final 12 months. There have been 636 such complaints within the first quarter, practically double the 380 filed throughout the identical interval of 2022. The company says it investigates every of these incapacity complaints.
But it surely wasn’t simply at the beginning of the 12 months when airline service was terrible. In line with the report, the variety of complaints filed towards airways was up 32 p.c in April and 49 p.c in Might with greater than 6,400 complaints being lodged with the U.S. Transportation Division.
Actually, the company says issues have gotten so dangerous that it hasn’t been in a position to course of all of the complaints it’s acquired this 12 months, so Might is the most recent month it might probably provide stats for. What’s extra, these figures solely relate to complaints lodged with the Transportation Division, the AP warns that “many extra complaints” had been filed with particular person airways throughout the identical interval.
In addition to an increase within the variety of complaints, the DOT warned that some points may stem from airways saying “flight schedules that they’re unlikely to have the ability to carry out.” As such, the company is now investigating “a number of home airways” and warned that they might face a hefty nice if discovered at fault.
