Complaints against airlines skyrocketed in 2022 compared to pre-pandemic figures, according to a new report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit consumer watchdog organization.
“We were just really shocked when we crunched all the numbers,” said Teresa Murray, a lead researcher with the group.
According to the report, which analyzed complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation, travelers made more than 33,000 complaints against all U.S. airlines between January and November last year.
That is almost four times the number of complaints in 2019, which was the last normal year before the pandemic, when there were about 9,500 complaints.
“The number of travelers last year was below 2019 levels, yet the number of complaints nearly quadrupled,” Murray said. “That’s not even counting the December complaints that the Department of Transportation is trying to finish up counting.”
Complaints stemming from December are expected to be quite significant, given heavy delays and cancellations that piled up around the Christmas holiday.
The No. 1 concern coming from airline passengers last year was about refunds, with travelers saying they were not getting refunds quickly enough or that airlines were trying to push vouchers on them instead.
“We wouldn’t have seen something like 15,000 complaints last year about refunds if they were being issued in a timely fashion,” Murray said.
The issue that led to the second-highest number of complaints was related to cancellations and delays.
Through 2022, airlines canceled 90,000 flights in the U.S., and 1.44 million more were delayed.
According to Murray, the Transportation Department has been working to address some of the issues that led to complaints, particularly the complaints about refunds.
In November, the Transportation Department announced that officials helped airline passengers get $600 million in refunds and imposed $7.25 million in fines against six airlines for delays in providing refunds.
Murray said the department is currently moving toward requiring that airlines provide a full refund if a flight is delayed by “three hours or more.”
Passengers should know their rights, according to Murray, including that they are entitled to a full refund if their flight is canceled for any reason.
Murray also recommended that people buy their airlines tickets with a credit card.
“Paying with a credit card gives you more rights than if you pay with a debit card because there are better federal protections with a credit card,” Murray said.
