The rate of U.S. flight cancellations declined compared to a year prior in each August and September, according to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report released this week by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The rate in July also had decreased from a year prior.
The August flight cancellation rate for U.S. carriers was 1 percent compared with a 2 percent cancellation rate in August 2024. U.S. flights operated during the month increased by about 2 percent year over year. For September, the cancellation rate fell to 0.5 percent, compared with 0.6 percent in September 2024. U.S. flights operated in September were nearly even with last year's total.
Those U.S. carriers with the lowest cancellation rates were the same for each August and September: Allegiant Air (0.1 percent in August, 0 percent in September), Hawaiian Airlines (0.2 percent for each month) and Southwest Airlines (0.4 percent and 0.2 percent for August and September, respectively).
U.S. carriers with the highest cancellation rates for August were American Airlines network (1.8 percent), Frontier Airlines (1.6 percent) and United Airlines network (1.2 percent). Networks include branded codeshare partners. The carriers with the highest cancellation rates for September were American Airlines network (1 percent), Spirit Airlines (0.9 percent) and Alaska Airlines network (0.6 percent).
In August, U.S. carriers handled more than 40.6 million bags and had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.55 percent, down from the 0.64 percent rate a year prior and the 0.61 percent from July 2025. In September, those carriers handled more than 35.4 million bags and had a mishandled baggage rate of 0.4 percent, down from the 0.42 percent in September 2024 and the mishandled rate in August 2025.
DOT continues to revamp its complaints data, and in August began to include a "customer experience report" from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration. In August 2025, TSA received 16,302 complaints via phone or email, which comes to 20.9 complaints per 100,000 passengers. The number of complaints in September totaled 15,006, representing 21.4 complaints per 100,000 passengers.
Additional consumer complaint data for August through December 2025 will be released in early 2026, according to DOT.
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