Do you know how to make an official complaint about an airline?
In 2012, a federal law mandated that U.S. airlines put information on their websites about how to make a complaint to the Department of Transportation. But Rep. Janice Hahn, a Democrat in California's 44th congressional district, says the airlines are doing a terrible job displaying the information.
Hahn's staff went to various airline websites in search of the info, and they were less than impressed.
"I searched for the hotline number myself on different airline websites and couldn't find it anywhere," Hahn said. "If I can't find it, I am assuming many other fliers can't find it either, and the data demonstrates that."
In November of last year — the last month for which data is available from the Department of Transportation — there were 989 consumer complaints about U.S. airlines. In October, there were 1,130, and in September, there were 1,351. Those numbers represent an almost 100% increase in complaints since 2014 — but there are two reasons to believe they might not properly represent the number of bad customer experiences.
"If I can't find it, I am assuming many other fliers can't find it either."
The first is the number of passengers: U.S. airlines carried an average of 58.2 million passengers each month last year, according to data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. And the second is that the general consensus on contemporary air travel is ... less than positive.
Hahn added an amendment to improve visibility of complaint info to the bill to privatize air traffic control, which was approved by the House of Representatives last week but faces a challenge in the Senate. Hahn actually voted against the bill at last week's vote, but added two amendments including the one on complaints she said are good for consumers.
Whether or not the bill (which is now chock full of all kinds of non-air traffic control related pieces) becomes law, passengers can already complain about airline experiences, whether they get the contact info from the airline or not.
If you've got a bad experience you'd like to complain about right now, you can fill out this form, call 202-366-2220, or send a letter to:
Aviation Consumer Protection Division, C-75 U.S. Department of Transportation1200 New Jersey Ave, S.E.Washington, D.C. 20590
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