Airline Chaos Could Persist Until 2024, Despite Efforts to Cure Woes

After a record-breaking summer of angst, aggravation, and anger at America’s airports, little relief may be in sight.

The problem came into sharper focus during the past few weeks with airline complaints in May and June soaring 270 percent above pre-pandemic levels.

While airlines and federal officials recently announced improved customer service and information-sharing practices with travelers, critics say those measures amount to baby steps. They advocate bigger, more meaningful strides to alleviate the chaos and restore order.

“When we look at the misery that we’ve seen this last summer, the thought is: How long could it last?” Jay Ratliff, an aviation expert, told The Epoch Times on Sept. 9.

Ratliff said that the problems predate the COVID-19 pandemic, are more complex than many people realize, and may persist until 2024.

A sign alerts travelers to the danger of COVID-19 at LaGuardia Airport, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in New York, on June 29, 2020. (Brendan McDermid/Reuters) Pandemic Exposed Flaws In System

While the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing and air travel slowed to a trickle, consumer complaints and demands for refunds and other compensation burgeoned.

From January 2020 to June 2021, the the Department of Transportation received 124,823 airline complaints; 83 percent involved refunds. In contrast, the agency received just 15,324 airline complaints in 2019, a DOT analysis says; only about 10 percent of that year’s disputes focused on refunds.

The number of DOT complaints is especially remarkable because, airline passengers would customarily lodge complaints directly with airlines and were unaware that they could escalate their concerns to the DOT, Ratliff said.

However, the federal agency’s ability to intervene is somewhat limited because there currently is “no requirement for an airline or a ticket agent to compensate passengers holding non-refundable tickets if they cancel air travel,”

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