Latest news with #U.S.PIRGEducationFund
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Yahoo
These airlines had the most and least passenger complaints in 2024
Flying can be a hassle even under the best of circumstances. When trips are marred by delays, cancellations and mishandled luggage, air travel can become a nightmare. In 2024, customers lodged a record 66,675 complaints against U.S. airlines, according to a new report from the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a consumer advocacy group, based on data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Passenger complaints have surged since the pandemic, rising every year since 2021, according to PIRG. "When you file a complaint, the DOT asks if you talked to airline, so it's not like the DOT complaint line is your first stop," U.S. PIRG consumer watchdog director Teresa Murray told CBS MoneyWatch. "When people try to get their money back and the airline hasn't done it, that's when people file complaints." For example, some customers sought refunds they were due related to flight cancellations or delays, while others sought reimbursement they were owed for lost or damaged piece of luggage. Airlines now face added pressure under new rules adopted in 2024 that require them to provide automatic refunds to customers when their flights are canceled or significantly delayed. Pandemic impact Prior to 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in the U.S., annual complaints against all airlines hovered below 20,000. That year, they jumped to more than 102,000 during what was a catastrophic period for air carriers, given travel restrictions and plummeting demand for flying. Airlines struggled to ramp capacity back up in 2021 and 2022, resulting in plenty of cancellations and delays. At the top 10 U.S. airlines, cancellations rose from 1.28% of flights in 2023 to 1.36% last year, resulting in a total of 102,908 canceled flights in 2024, according to the report. Delays also worsened, with 78.1% of flights arriving on time last year, down from 78.3% in 2023. In total, roughly 1.7 million flights were either delayed or canceled in 2024. Nationwide air traffic controller shortages could lead to more snarls in schedules for the remainder of 2025, PIRG said. One relative bright spot in the report: Airlines mishandled fewer bags and wheelchairs in 2024 compared to the previous year. While that showed some modest improvement, 2.7 million bags were still lost or damaged, as were 11,357 wheelchairs and scooters. The carrier with the highest rate of complaints per 100,000 passengers: Frontier Airlines, which had the worst cancellation record, worst record for on-time arrivals and worst record for involuntary bumping, PIRG found. It ranked second-worst for the share of wheelchairs that it mishandled. "That's a lot of worsts," Murray said. These were the best- and worst-performing airlines last year in terms of passenger complaints, flight cancellations and delays, and other metrics, according to PIRG. Overall complaints Best airlines Southwest (1.5 complaint per 100,000 passengers) Alaska (2.6 per 100,000 passengers) Hawaiian (3.8 per 100,000 passengers) Worst airlines Frontier (23.3 complaints per 100,000 passengers)Spirit (12.8 per 100,000 passengers) JetBlue (10.4 per 100,000 passengers) Flight cancellations Best airlines Southwest (0.83% of flights canceled)Hawaiian (1.05% canceled)Delta (1.09% canceled) Worst airlines Frontier (2.32% of flights canceled)Spirit (1.91% canceled)United (1.74% canceled) Delays Best airlines Hawaiian (16.42% of flights delayed)Delta (17.98% delayed)United (20.86% delayed) Worst airlines Frontier (30.5% of flights delayed)JetBlue (26.94% delayed)Spirit (25.52% delayed) Mishandled bags Best airlines Allegiant (0.2%)JetBlue (0.35%)Frontier (0.4%) Worst airlines American (0.79%)United (0.66%)Alaska (0.58%) Mishandled wheelchairs Best airlines Delta (0.63%) Allegiant (0.75%)United (0.97%) Worst airlines Spirit (2.07%)Frontier (1.76%)American (1.63%) Involuntary bumping Best airlines Allegiant (0 per 10,000 passengers)Delta (0 per 10,000 passengers)United (0.03 per 10,000 passengers) Worst airlines Frontier (2.25 per 10,000 passengers)American (0.67 per 10,000 passengers)Spirit (0.48 per 10,000 passengers) Sneak peek: Fatal First Date Trump teases "good news" on Russia-Ukraine war Arrests by masked federal agents are "slippery slope," former DHS attorney warns
CBS News
15-05-2025
- CBS News
These airlines had the most and least passenger complaints in 2024
Flying can be a hassle even under the best of circumstances. When trips are marred by delays, cancellations and mishandled luggage, air travel can become a nightmare. In 2024, customers lodged a record 66,675 complaints against U.S. airlines, according to a new report from the U.S. PIRG Education Fund, a consumer advocacy group, based on data from the U.S. Department of Transportation. Passenger complaints have surged since the pandemic, rising every year since 2021, according to PIRG. "When you file a complaint, the DOT asks if you talked to airline, so it's not like the DOT complaint line is your first stop," U.S. PIRG consumer watchdog director Teresa Murray told CBS MoneyWatch. "When people try to get their money back and the airline hasn't done it, that's when people file complaints." For example, some customers sought refunds they were due related to flight cancellations or delays, while others sought reimbursement they were owed for lost or damaged piece of luggage. Airlines now face added pressure under new rules adopted in 2024 that require them to provide automatic refunds to customers when their flights are canceled or significantly delayed. Pandemic impacft Prior to 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic erupted in the U.S., annual complaints against all airlines hovered below 20,000. That year, they jumped to more than 102,000 during what was a catastrophic period for air carriers, given travel restrictions and plummeting demand for flying. Airlines struggled to ramp capacity back up in 2021 and 2022, resulting in plenty of cancellations and delays. At the top 10 U.S. airlines, cancellations rose from 1.28% of flights in 2023 to 1.36% last year, resulting in a total of 102,908 canceled flights in 2024, according to the report. Delays also worsened, with 78.1% of flights arriving on time last year, down from 78.3% in 2023. In total, roughly 1.7 million flights were either delayed or canceled in 2024. Nationwide air traffic controller shortages could lead to more snarls in schedules for the remainder of 2025, PIRG said. One relative bright spot in the report: Airlines mishandled fewer bags and wheelchairs in 2024 compared to the previous year. While that showed some modest improvement, 2.7 million bags were still lost or damaged, as were 11,357 wheelchairs and scooters. The carrier with the highest rate of complaints per 100,000 passengers: Frontier Airlines, which had the worst cancellation record, worst record for on-time arrivals and worst record for involuntary bumping, PIRG found. It ranked second-worst for the share of wheelchairs that it mishandled. "That's a lot of worsts," Murray said. These were the best- and worst-performing airlines last year in terms of passenger complaints, flight cancellations and delays, and other metrics, according to PIRG. Overall complaints Best airlines Southwest (1.5 complaint per 100,000 passengers) Alaska (2.6 per 100,000 passengers) Hawaiian (3.8 per 100,000 passengers) Worst airlines Frontier (23.3 complaints per 100,000 passengers) Spirit (12.8 per 100,000 passengers) JetBlue (10.4 per 100,000 passengers) Flight cancellations Best airlines Southwest (0.83% of flights canceled) Hawaiian (1.05% canceled) Delta (1.09% canceled) Worst airlines Frontier (2.32% of flights canceled) Spirit (1.91% canceled) United (1.74% canceled) Delays Best airlines Hawaiian (16.42% of flights delayed) Delta (17.98% delayed) United (20.86% delayed) Worst airlines Frontier (30.5% of flights delayed) JetBlue (26.94% delayed) Spirit (25.52% delayed) Mishandled bags Best airlines Allegiant (0.2%) JetBlue (0.35%) Frontier (0.4%) Worst airlines American (0.79%) United (0.66%) Alaska (0.58%) Mishandled wheelchairs Best airlines Delta (0.63%) Allegiant (0.75%) United (0.97%) Worst airlines Spirit (2.07%) Frontier (1.76%) American (1.63%) Involuntary bumping Best airlines Allegiant (0 per 10,000 passengers) Delta (0 per 10,000 passengers) United (0.03 per 10,000 passengers) Worst airlines Frontier (2.25 per 10,000 passengers) American (0.67 per 10,000 passengers) Spirit (0.48 per 10,000 passengers)
Fox News
24-02-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Fewer food recalls yet more Americans sickened in 2024 than previous year, says new report
More Americans were sickened by contaminated food in 2024 than the previous year and the number of people who were hospitalized or died more than doubled, a new study has revealed. The analysis, published this month by the Colorado-based U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) Education Fund, shows that hospitalizations and deaths from contaminated food increased last year compared to 2023. In all, the United States had 296 food recall announcements in 2024, which is a 5% decrease from 2023, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund's analysis shows. Despite an overall decrease in recalls, though, more people were sickened by food-borne outbreaks in 2024, the data indicates. "It's an indication that a lot of food was a lot more contaminated with higher concentrations of bacteria," Teresa Murray, director of the U.S. PIRG's consumer watchdog office, told Fox News Digital. The biggest threats stemmed from E. coli, listeria and salmonella. Overall, contaminated food was linked to 1,392 total illnesses in 2024 – that's 274 more than the 1,118 sickened in 2023, according to the report. Hospitalizations more than doubled from 230 in 2023 to 487 in 2024, as did reported deaths — from eight in 2023 to 19 in 2024, the analysis stated. Deaths in 2024 were associated with deli meat, cucumbers, onions, carrots, soft cheese, chocolate snacks with mushrooms, and ready-to-eat meat and poultry, according to the data. There were notably more high-profile recalls in 2024. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), which regulates meat, poultry and some fish and egg products, tallied 55 recalls in 2024 – a decline of 38% from 2023, the analysis stated. Another 241 food and beverage recalls and alerts were issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2024 – an increase of 8% from the year before, the data shows. Notably, there were more high-profile recalls in 2024, including McDonald's and Boar's Head. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said in November that slivered onions served on McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers were the probable source of an E. coli outbreak that prompted the fast-food restaurant chain to temporarily stop selling the menu item. That was the same month that SunFed Produce recalled all sizes of its whole fresh American cucumbers and Costco recalled more than 10,000 cartons of Kirkland Signature eggs amid salmonella concerns. Two months earlier, a listeria outbreak among certain Boar's Head deli meats led to the discontinuation of liverwurst from its lineup of cold cuts. The outbreak was later linked to a Boar's Head facility in Virginia. All but one of the 13 outbreaks in 2024 involved E. coli, listeria or salmonella, the U.S. PIRG Education Fund's data revealed. One factor that Murray believes contributed to the increased hospitalizations and deaths were the "time lags that we saw last year, in many cases, between when the first illnesses occurred and then when the recalls were announced." Murray said she's hopeful the FDA and USDA can "create a format where somebody could get customized alerts" to their cellphones or emails. Currently, anyone can sign up for every recall that is announced, but Murray said it creates "recall fatigue." A customized recall notification system specific to a person's individual region or concerns, Murray said, might help others "actually take control of the information that they're getting and pay more attention to it."
