Are You A Grumpy Passenger

The number of travelers is up but despite the rising number of tourists, the plane size and the number of planes is not. There was a time when travelers could get on a plane and expect to have at least one or two empty seats nearby with room to stretch and enough room to store their carryons. Now, you are much more likely to find yourself stuffed like a sausage in a small seat with little room for your carryon and even less legroom. As airlines try to increase revenue and stuff planes as full as possible, the number of complaints is once again on the rise.

Overbooking of flights used to be far from the norm, however, today, it is rare to find a plane without at least one traveler being offered a free night stay due to overbooking. Despite the increase in complaints, the actual numbers are on the decline. According to the Air Quality Rating, a national statistical study of major airlines conducted by Dr Dean Headly and Dr Brent Bowen show that although the score was almost the same in 2012 as 2011, declines were seen in two of the four performance areas. The areas include:

on-time arrival percentage was better (81.8% in 2012
compared to 80.0% in 2011)
on-time arrival percentage was better (81.8% in 2012
compared to 80.0% in 2011)
involuntary denied boardings
per passenger served increased to 0.97 per 10,000 passengers in 2012 from 0.78 per
10,000 passengers in 2011
consumer complaint rates increased to 1.43 per 100,000
passengers in 2012 from 1.19 per 100,000 passengers in 2011

Almost 12,000 complaints were registered with DOT in 2012 and of these complaints, over 60 percent were for reservations, ticketing and boarding, flight problems or customer service related.

So are you a grumpy passenger? Have your experiences been better or worse? What airline have you enjoyed traveling with? Share your experiences with us here at Bill Bailey Travel. As an expert in travel worldwide, Bill Bailey is a travel visionary, doing what it takes to make planning your vacation simpler and providing more options for travel.