The May U.S. passenger flight cancellation rate decreased year over year to 0.9 percent compared with 1.1 percent in May 2025, and was even with the rate reported in April 2026, according to the latest U.S. Department of Transportation Air Travel Consumer Report.
May is the first month in which the year-over-year U.S. passenger flight cancellation rate declined since October 2025.
U.S. carriers in May operated about 670,900 flights, up from the 660,000 operated in May 2025.
Domestic carriers with the lowest May cancellation rates were Allegiant Air (0.2 percent), JetBlue (0.2 percent) and Southwest Airlines (0.4 percent).
Airlines with the highest May cancellation rates were Spirit Airlines (14.1 percent), American Airlines network (1.5 percent) and Delta Air Lines (1.1 percent). Networks include branded codeshare partners. Spirit went out of business in early May.
In May, U.S. carriers handled about 40.4 million bags for a mishandled baggage rate of 0.42 percent, lower than the 0.49 percent reported a year prior, but higher than the 0.36 percent reported in April 2026.
The number of complaints filed in May decreased to 6,448 compared with 7,278 received in April. About 62 percent were lodged against U.S. carriers, 31 percent against foreign carriers and nearly 7 percent against travel agencies. The subcategories with the most complaints were refunds (1,881), flight schedule (1,225) and baggage (954).
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