January and February monthly U.S. airline cancellation rates each increased year over year, continuing the elevated rates reported in December and for full-year 2025, according to the latest U.S. Air Travel Consumer Reports.
U.S. carriers in January operated about 573,900 flights, about 1 percent less than a year prior. The cancellation rate was 4.8 percent, up from the 3.1 percent reported in January 2025 and up from the December 2025 rate of 1.6 percent.
In February 2026, U.S. carriers operated nearly 555,500 flights, down about 1 percent year over year. The cancellation rate was 2.3 percent, up from the 1.5 percent reported a year prior.
The U.S. carriers with the lowest January cancellation rates were Allegiant Air (2.4 percent), Alaska Airlines network (2.5 percent) and Southwest Airlines (2.6 percent). Those with the highest January rates were American Airlines network (7.4 percent), Spirit Airlines (8.9 percent) and JetBlue (6.6 percent). Networks include branded codeshare partners.
In February, the carriers with the lowest cancellation rates were Hawaiian Airlines (0.3 percent), Southwest (0.6 percent) and Delta Air Lines network (0.8 percent). Those with the highest February rates were American network (2.9 percent), JetBlue (2.6 percent) and Alaska network (2.3 percent).
U.S. carriers in January handled nearly 34.5 million bags and had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.66 percent, even with the rate reported in January 2025, but up from the 0.62 percent reported in December 2025. In February, carriers handled about 33 million bags for a mishandled baggage rate of 0.51 percent, down from the 0.53 percent reported a year prior.
DOT completed the rollout of its new air complaint data system with the January 2026 report. The last time it had released complaint data was in April for August through December 2025, but those months did not have the same level of detail now provided.
For January, DOT received 7,714 complaints, with 69.3 percent logged against U.S. carriers, 27 percent against foreign carriers and 3.7 percent against travel agencies. The subcategory with the most complaints (2,318) was for flight schedule, which includes cancellations. Next was for refunds (1,761) and third was for baggage (1,326).
DOT in February received 6,381 complaints. About 68.6 percent were against U.S. carriers, 27.4 percent against foreign carriers and 4 percent against travel agencies. The subcategory with the highest number of complaints (1,829) was for refunds. Second was for flight schedule (1,435) and third was for baggage (1,068).
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