The December and full-year 2025 U.S. airline cancellation rates each increased year over year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's latest Air Travel Consumer Report.
U.S. carriers in December operated about 634,400 flights, up from the nearly 627,400 operated a year prior, and up almost 3.4 percent from the number of flights operated in November 2025. For the full year, U.S. carriers operated more than 7.6 million flights, up 2.3 percent year over year.
The December cancellation rate was 1.6 percent, up from the 0.7 percent reported in December 2024, but down from the 2.6 percent rate in November 2025. The full-year cancellation rate was 1.5 percent, up from the 1.4 percent reported a year prior.
The U.S. carriers with the lowest December cancellation rates were Southwest Airlines (0.6 percent), Hawaiian Airlines (0.7 percent) and Allegiant Air (0.8 percent).
Those carriers with the highest December cancellation rates were Spirit Airlines (3.7 percent), JetBlue (2.8 percent) and Frontier Airlines (2.8 percent).
In December, U.S. carriers handled nearly 41.5 million bags and had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.62 percent, up from the 0.60 percent reported a year earlier and up from the 0.44 percent in November 2025. For the full year, U.S. carriers handled more than 471 million bags and had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.52 percent, down from the 0.55 percent rate in 2024.
DOT continues to revamp its complaint data, and in August 2025 began to include a "customer experiencer report" from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration.
In December, TSA received 14,381 complaints, or 19.1 complaints per 100,000 passengers. Those numbers were higher than the 11,107 complaints received in November, about 16 complaints per 100,000 passengers. December complaints, though, were lower than the 19,572 received in December 2024, about 26 complaints per 100,000 passengers.
Additional consumer complaint data for August through December 2025 will be released in early 2026, according to DOT.
RELATED: DOT: November U.S. Air Cancellation Rate Soars