The April U.S. passenger flight cancellation rate decreased compared with March's rate, but again increased year over year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report.
The rate has increased year over year in each month since December,
U.S. carriers in April operated about 654,800 flights, up from the 638,800 operated a year prior. The cancellation rate was 0.9 percent, up from the 0.8 percent reported in April 2025, but down from the 2.9 percent reported in March 2026.
Domestic carriers with the lowest April cancellation rates were JetBlue (0.1 percent), Allegiant Air (0.1 percent) and Southwest Airlines (0.3 percent).
Airlines with the highest April cancellation rates were Spirit Airlines (3.4 percent), Frontier Airlines (1.3 percent) and United Airlines network (1.3 percent). Networks include branded codeshare partners.
In April, U.S. airlines handled nearly 36.6 million bags for a mishandled baggage rate of 0.36 percent, down from 0.43 percent reported a year earlier and from 0.55 percent reported in March 2026.
The number of complaints filed in April decreased to 7,278 compared with 8,571 received in March. About 67 percent were lodged against U.S. carriers, 28 percent against foreign carriers and 5 percent against travel agencies. The subcategories with the most complaints were refunds (2,296), flight schedule (1,323) and baggage (1,013).
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