Airline passenger complaint rate was up in 2012
Complaints to the government by passengers of 14 largest US airlines surged last year
Airline passengers filed 11,445 complaints with the Transportation Department last year, an increase of more than one-fifth from 2011.
The rate of complaints per 100,000 passengers also rose, from 1.19 in 2011 to 1.43 last year.
A breakdown of that rate for the 14 largest U.S. carriers from a report being released Monday on airline quality by researchers at Purdue University and Wichita State University. The first rate is for 2012; the second for 2011.
—Air Tran: 0.91; 0.72
—Alaska: 0.51; 0.48
—American: 1.80; 1.46
—American Eagle: 1.27; 1.45
—Delta: 0.73; 1.23
—ExpressJet: 1.07
—Frontier: 1.05; 0.76
—Hawaiian: 0.89; 0.70
—JetBlue: 0.79; 1.08
—SkyWest: 0.88; 0.73
—Southwest: 0.25; 0.32
—United: 4.24; 2.21
—US Airways: 1.74; 1.91
—Virgin America: 1.50
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2011 rates were not available for ExpressJet and Virgin America.
