After a streak of declining monthly cancellation rates that began in August, the 10 largest U.S. carriers had a slight uptick in the rate in December, according to the latest U.S. Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report.
The cancellation rate of 0.4 percent was higher than the 0.1 percent reported in November, but lower than the 5.4 percent reported in December 2022. As announced in January, the full-year 2023 rate was one of the lowest in the past decade.
Carriers in December with the lowest rates of canceled flights included American Airlines network (0.1 percent), United Airlines network (0.3 percent) and Delta Air Lines network (0.4 percent). Networks include branded codeshare partners.
The carriers with the highest cancellation rates for the month included Hawaiian Airlines (1.5 percent), Alaska Airlines network (1 percent) and Allegiant Air (0.7 percent).
U.S. carriers operated nearly 604,000 flights in December, an increase of nearly 10.4 percent year over year and 0.8 percent month over month.
For December, carriers handled 43.1 million bags and reported a mishandled baggage rate of 0.50 percent, up from the rate of 0.39 in November, but lower than the 1.09 rate reported in December 2022. Carriers for full-year 2023 had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.58 percent, down from 0.64 in 2022.
DOT again omitted complaint data in its report because of "continued high volume." The last complaint data released was in November for March, April and May. The agency is revamping its system for processing complaints received after June 1, 2023. In December, the agency said the new system would be ready in January 2024.
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