U.S. complaints against airlines soar as on-time arrivals fall

WASHINGTON, June 23 (Reuters) - U.S. consumers lodged more than triple the number of complaints against U.S. airlines in April compared with pre-pandemic levels as on-time arrivals fell, according to a report seen by Reuters.

The U.S. Transportation Department plans to announce later on Thursday that it received 5,079 complaints about airline service in April, up more than 320% over the 1,205 complaints received in pre-pandemic April 2019.

In April 2022, major carriers posted an on-time arrival rate of 76%, down from 77.2% in March and below the 79.8% rate in April 2019, the report said.

Airlines operated 566,893 flights in April, about 87% of the flights flown in the same month in 2019. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter)