For the first two months of 2023, U.S. airline cancellations have stayed below 2 percent and were lower than last year’s 2.7 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation February Air Travel Consumer Report.
February 2023 cancellations for the 10 reporting airlines were 9,686 flights, about 1.8 percent of more than 536,000 scheduled domestic flights. This rate was lower than the 1.9 percent reported in January 2023 and the 4.5 percent reported in February 2022.
The Alaska Airlines network had the highest percentage of cancellations at 2.7 percent. Southwest Airlines was at 2.1 percent and the American Airlines network was at 1.9 percent. Networks include branded codeshare partners.
In February, the reporting carriers operated more than 526,500 flights, which were up 6 percent from the flights operated in February 2022. The number, however, was down nearly 6.5 percent from the nearly 563,000 flights operated in January 2023.
Reporting carriers in February handled 34.3 million bags and posted a mishandled baggage rate of 0.61 percent per 100 bags enplaned, lower than the January 2023 rate of 0.73 percent, but slightly higher than the 0.60 rate in February 2022.
For the third month in a row, DOT has postponed reporting the number of complaints filed against airlines because of the high volume, according to the agency. It filed December 2022’s in April, noting that the number was the third highest on record. January complaint data is scheduled to be released in May, and February data is scheduled for June, according to DOT.
