Airline Delays Continue; Complaints Up

Flights on time just 72% of time, government survey shows

By Will McCahill, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 3, 2007 5:30 PM CDT

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Airline Delays Continue; Complaints Up — Airline passengers watch for flight delays on the monitors throughout LaGuardia Airport Friday, June 8, 2007 in New York. A cascading computer failure in the nation's air-traffic control system caused severe flight delays and some cancellations in New York City and along the East Coast Friday. (AP... (Associated Press)

Customer complaints about airlines were up sharply in August—double the level a year before—as delays hit nearly 30%, according to a government report released today. The on-time rate was 71.7%, down from 75.8 last year, a survey of the 20 largest US carries showed, less than a week after President Bush said he would help fix the problem with new government regulations.

"Endless hours sitting in an airplane on a runway with no communication between a pilot and the airport is just not right," Bush said last week. Among the options under consideration are making airlines shrink schedules or pay more to fly during peak travel times. Airlines are pushing for a new air traffic-control system, which could cost $15 billion. (More airline delays stories.)

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