Why did DOT create a customer service dashboard?

Although travel delays come from different causes, such as weather events and air traffic control glitches, airline staffing issues this year have exacerbated the problem like never before. In mid-August, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote a letter to airline executives calling them out on “unacceptable” delays and telling them of his plans for the dashboard. Buttigieg said his department “asks that airlines, at a minimum, provide meal vouchers for delays of 3 hours or more and lodging accommodations for passengers who must wait overnight at an airport because of disruptions within the carrier’s control.” He also said they were expected to “provide timely and responsive customer service during and after periods of flight disruptions,” regardless of the cause. Last month, Southwest was the only airline that guaranteed free rebooking on its own aircraft for a canceled flight or significant delay, according to a DOT spokeswoman. By last Friday, the 10 major carriers that account for about 96 percent of domestic flights were all offering that service. Nine airlines were also covering meals for long delays and hotels for overnight cancellations. Whether the new policies began in response to the new webpage is open to debate. Brian Deese, director of the government’s National Economic Council, credited the dashboard for improvements in airline policy, saying, “Sunlight is a useful disinfectant.” However, Breyault, the consumer advocate, said the changes were in response to public pressure. Consumer complaints for airline-related issues jumped 270 percent in June above 2019 pre-pandemic levels, according to the Transportation Department.

What if a flight disruption isn’t ‘controllable’?

Joe Yaun and his wife, Staysha Sigler, had initially been scheduled to leave the U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday. Even though their flight was showing a 23-hour delay, they said the dashboard proved meaningless. Their requests for meal vouchers and a hotel were turned down by the airline, which pinned the problem on the effects of Tropical Storm Earl. “Yesterday was totally reasonable to cancel the flight due to winds. Today, it was totally ridiculous. It barely rained all day and we were walking around the streets with almost no winds, yet American decided to cancel for the second day in a row, while half our party got out on Delta with no delay,” Sigler said in an email that included a video showing palm trees with stationary fronds. A tweet Monday from the Virgin Islands Port Authority said American was the only airline not running a normal schedule. Flight Aware , which tracks aircraft, showed Tuesday that more than 90 percent of American flights out of St. Thomas were delayed Monday, while other major carriers delayed only about a third of their flights. “American with their ‘weather’ designation, made sure this didn’t fall under ‘controllable cancellations’ or ‘delays’ and thus negated all the green check marks” on the dashboard, Yaun said. “Other airlines didn’t consider the weather unmanageable, so [American] sidestepped all accommodations and accountability.” American spokeswoman Laura Masvidal said only that the incoming flight from Miami to St. Thomas was diverted to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Sunday because of the weather. She didn’t respond to a question asking why Monday’s delays were still considered weather-related.

Are airlines offering more for cancellations and delays?

Comparisons of past and present airline policies show some have already made significant changes. Budget carrier Allegiant Air brought its policy closer to three of the largest airlines (American, Delta and United) and began offering to rebook passengers on one of its flights or on a partner airline at no additional cost for delays or cancellations within its control. It will also provide a hotel for overnight disruptions and reimburse for ground transportation if it doesn’t provide a shuttle. United said it was making only one minor tweak, offering a meal voucher after a three-hour delay that resulted from an airline issue, instead of the previous four hours. United has altered its customer service language from “we will … work to confirm you on the next flight” to “we’ll get you on the next flight” with room in the same cabin. American now explicitly states that the rebooking won’t be at any cost to the passenger. The green checks on the dashboard may look uniform, but they don’t necessarily mean the same things across the board. Delta guarantees it will try rebooking on a partner airline if its own flights don’t have space when a delay is at least two hours or a passenger is going to miss a connection. American will try a partner airline if there is a “significant delay” or a connection will be missed and nothing is available on its own aircraft until the next day. United mirrors American, but only promises to try a partner airline the next day if the customer asks for it.

What can passengers do to get compensated for cancellations and delays?

Airlines are required by law to offer compensation in some scenarios, and more of those may be coming if a Transportation Department proposal for expanded travelers’ rights goes through. But once an airline has made a guarantee in its policy, the DOT can enforce it, fining the airline if necessary . When passengers feel that a flight went awry, they should first contact the airline directly. Travelers should keep their paperwork in case they need to show it to the carrier, which has 60 days to respond to a written complaint. If problems aren’t resolved, review the “Fly Rights” guide on the Transportation Department’s website and know that you can lodge a complaint with the department . Some private travel insurance companies offer coverage for flight delays or cancellations as well. For instance, Allianz Travel will provide up to $150 per day (with a $300 limit) for accommodation or travel expenses due to departure delays of six hours or more, with some restrictions.

What are the best and worst airlines for cancellations and delays?

Although the number of flights that get canceled is only a small percentage of the total, it still equates to thousands per month. In June, the most recent month the Transportation Department reported consumer complaint data , 3.1 percent of flights were canceled, for a total of 18,473 flights. Before the pandemic, in June 2019, 2.1 percent of flights were canceled for a total of 14,667 flights that didn’t take off. The airlines with the fewest canceled flights this past June were Hawaiian Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Frontier Airlines. The most cancellations were on American Airlines (4.4 percent), Delta Air Lines (3.9 percent) and United Airlines (3.5 percent). The numbers are different for flight delays, with on-time arrivals slightly better than they were before the pandemic. This past June, the on-time arrival rate was 73.5 percent, up from 73.3 percent in pre-pandemic June 2019. Alaska, Delta and Hawaiian had the best on-time departure rates, while Allegiant Air, JetBlue and Frontier had the worst. The year-to-date on-time arrival rate for 2022 was just shy of 76 percent.

By The Way

What do airlines owe for canceled flights? A new dashboard tells you.

Buttigieg’s customer service tool compares policies for rebooking, meal vouchers and hotel rooms

By Karen Schwartz

September 6, 2022 at 2:06 p.m. EDT

btw-dashboard (Washington Post Illustration)

8 min

The Transportation Department released a new online dashboard last week that gives travelers a quick, transparent view of what airlines offer for passengers affected by some cancellations and delays. Although easy-to-read tables and links to customer service policies can help customers learn what they’re owed, they won’t mean much for the people who are stuck in the airport for hours.

“Is it a silver bullet that will solve all the problems? No. But it is a step forward,” said John Breyault, a spokesman for the National Consumers League.

The dashboard only deals with circumstances within the airline’s control, such as mechanical problems. A glance tells consumers that American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and JetBlue make the most promises when it comes to rebooking and meal vouchers or hotels. On the opposite end, Frontier Airlines makes the fewest.

“The airlines for years have been able to get away with obscuring their legal responsibilities in dense legalese in the contract of carriage,” Breyault added. “What a dashboard like this does is makes those obligations much more understandable to consumers.”

Here’s what fliers need to know about the new DOT dashboard.

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