After decreasing in June, the percentage of U.S. passenger flights in July that were canceled increased to 2.9 percent, according to the latest U.S. Department of Transportation monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. That figure is up from the 2.5 percent canceled in July 2023 and the 1.3 percent rate from June 2024.
One reason for the increase could be the July CrowdStrike IT outage, which also helps to explain why Delta Airlines Network led the carriers with the highest percentage of cancellations for the month (5.6 percent). Delta's flights were significantly affected by the outage. Networks include branded codeshare partners.
The other carriers with the highest percentage of cancellations included Spirit Airlines (5.2 percent) and Frontier Airlines (4.5 percent).
Carriers with the lowest July cancellation rates included Southwest Airlines (0.7 percent), Alaska Airlines Network (0.7 percent) and Hawaiian Airlines (0.8 percent).
U.S. carriers in July operated more than 657,000 flights, up 5.5 percent year over year and up 2.1 percent month over month.
Those carriers in July handled 45.6 million bags and had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.75 percent, equal to the rate reported in July 2023, but higher than the rate of 0.58 percent reported in June 2024.
On Sept. 19, DOT released airline service submissions data for the months of January to May 2024. The agency is reporting that information—which includes airline service complaints, inquiries and opinions—in lieu of detailed complaint data while it continues to upgrade its processing system.
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