Right to fly: Air travel complaints up year over year
DOT: 92.2 million passengers traveled via plane in July 2025
(InvestigateTV) — Briana Bain and her boyfriend, Andrew, were looking forward to a Labor Day getaway. Instead, their trip quickly turned into a nightmare of delays and cancellations.
After nearly 20 hours at the airport, Andrew returned home without ever reaching his destination. Missed connections and canceled flights meant the couple lost their entire vacation – and they say the airline offered little support.
Their frustration is part of a growing trend. According to the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), airline complaints – particularly about delays and cancellations – have skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, 2024 marked the fourth time in five years that complaints against U.S. carriers climbed to new highs.
“When we’re talking about maintenance, staffing, cleaning the plane, scheduling, those are all things within the airline’s control,” Teresa Murray with US PIRG said. “And they have another level of responsibility when it comes to taking care of their passengers and making sure that they can accommodate whatever is going on in a timely fashion.”
Murray urged travelers to check the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) passenger dashboard before flying.
“Which is FlightRights.gov – and it spells out there very clearly, what the airlines have to do for you if it’s a controllable cancellation or a controllable delay,” she noted. “You see which airlines have already promised the government that they will take care of people with rebooking or hotels or food or ground transportation. So, you should know your rights.”
After consistent calls and emails to both American Airlines and the DOT, the couple finally received a refund, but only for their original tickets. Bain says they still lost money covering the extra cost of a new trip.
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