JetBlue responds to report it had among the many worst grievance ratios, on-time document final 12 months

Flights

JetBlue says it’s devoted to serving prospects, together with when journeys do not go as deliberate.

The airline trade obtained essentially the most passenger complaints in at the very least 1 / 4 of a century in 2022, in line with a current report by the US PIRG Training Fund.

And the report discovered that JetBlue, Logan Airport’s largest provider, was among the many worst offenders.

Vacationers filed 47,591 complaints with the U.S. Division of Transportation in opposition to U.S. airways final 12 months, in line with the report, with the typical ratio of complaints per 100,000 boarded prospects among the many 17 largest airways, leaping from 3.1 in 2021 to five.6 in 2022.

The three airways with the worst grievance ratios have been Frontier with 20.3 per 100,000 passengers, Spirit Airways with 10.1 per 100,000, and JetBlue with 9 per 100,000. It’s the second 12 months in a row that these three airways have had the worst ratios.

The grievance ratio of Southwest Airways, which had a meltdown in December that resulted in about 17,000 canceled flights, elevated from 1.4 per 100,000 passengers in 2021 to six.8 in 2022.

“Air journey is only a mess proper now,” Deirdre Cummings, client program director at MASSPIRG Training Fund, instructed The Boston Globe.

“Airways usually submit unrealistic schedules, they cancel flights, they usually drag their toes with refunds,” she added. “Airways and on-line ticket brokers simply don’t face sufficient penalties once they abuse prospects.”

The majority of the complaints have been about flight issues equivalent to cancellations, delays, and missed connections, in line with the report, adopted by refunds and mishandled baggage.

JetBlue ranked No. 6 in whole flight downside complaints with 1,506, putting behind Spirit, Frontier, United, American, and Southwest.

As for on-time flight efficiency — outlined as arriving inside quarter-hour of the scheduled time — the 17 largest airways final 12 months had an on-time efficiency of 76.6%, a proportion that has dropped underneath 77% only one different time within the final 15 years.

Allegiant Air had the worst on-time document at 63.4%, adopted by JetBlue at 64.6% and Frontier at 66.1%, in line with the report. Delta had one of the best on-time document at 82.5%.

Whereas some flights are delayed on account of climate, heavy site visitors, and safety delays, the most important purpose for delays are throughout the airline’s management, in line with the report, equivalent to upkeep or crew issues, cabin cleansing, baggage loading, and fueling.

JetBlue supplied the next assertion to Boston.com in response to the report:

“You will need to be aware, the Northeast is by far essentially the most congested airspace within the U.S., with extra air site visitors management delays and climate delays than some other area. In 2022, 76% of our operations touched congested airspace in comparison with 42% for our closest competitor and different opponents starting from 7% to 32%.

We’re happy to have considerably improved completion issue within the second half of 2022. We additionally had one of many highest completion components through the Christmas and New Yr’s holidays and didn’t cancel a single flight over the Thanksgiving journey interval. Moreover, our acquisition of Spirit Airways will diversify our community exterior of the congested Northeast, giving us better operational resiliency and elevated relevance to prospects.”

— JetBlue assertion

JetBlue additionally pointed to its Buyer Service Plan, which it says reinforces the corporate’s dedication to serving prospects when journeys don’t go as deliberate. The plan particulars the compensation guidelines for varied points equivalent to delays and cancellations.

Horizon Airways had the bottom complaints-to-passengers ratio, adopted by SkyWest Airways and Mesa Airways.

Take a look at the US PIRG Training Fund report.