Frontier's Complaints Ranking Remains Awful in New Air Travel Consumer Report

In May, we posted about the airlines with the least and most consumer complaints according to the Air Travel Consumer Report, a document published semi-annually by the Department of Transportation. And Frontier, Denver's hometown airline, had an awful performance, finishing dead last. Now, the Transportation Department has published its latest installment...

By Michael Roberts

November 13, 2015

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In May, we posted about the airlines with the least and most consumer complaints according to the Air Travel Consumer Report, a document published semi-annually by the Department of Transportation.

And Frontier, Denver's hometown airline, had a terrible performance, finishing dead last.

Now, the Transportation Department has published its latest installment of the report, featuring figures from September.

The good news: Frontier didn't come in thirteenth of the thirteen major carriers.

The bad news: The number of complaints against the airline, as well as the percentage of complaints per 100,000 enplanements, has more than doubled since September 2014.

Obviously, there's nothing to celebrate in this data.

Continue to see the photo-illustrated rankings of airlines by consumer complaints, featuring DOT data, followed by the complete Air Travel Consumer Report.

Number 1: ExpressJet Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 19
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 2,459,435
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.77
Complaints, September 2015: 8
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 2,014,225
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 0.40

Number 2: Alaska Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 7
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 1,649,965
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.42
Complaints, September 2015: 9
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 1,813,360
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 0.50

Number 3: Southwest Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 45
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 10,073,964
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.45
Complaints, September 2015: 62
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 11,546,099
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 0.54

Number 4: Skywest Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 11
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 2,266,410
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.49
Complaints, September 2015: 21
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 2,500,275
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 0.84

Number 5: Delta Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 76
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 10,601,705
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.72
Complaints, September 2015: 100
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 11,285, 071
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 0.89

Number 6: JetBlue Airways
Complaints, September 2014: 25
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 2,357,417
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 1.06
Complaints, September 2015: 27
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 2,633,645
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 1.03

Number 7: Envoy Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 14
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 1,268,813
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 1.10
Complaints, September 2015: 14
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 911,812
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 1.54

Number 8: Hawaiian Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 7
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 811,582
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.86
Complaints, September 2015: 15
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 831,292
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 1.80

Number 9: Virgin Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 4
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 493,335
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 0.81
Complaints, September 2015: 11
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 558,549
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 1.97

Number 10: United Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 168
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 7,118,895
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 2.36
Complaints, September 2015: 236
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 7,625,175
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 3.10

Number 11: American Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 120
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 6,726,622
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 1.78
Complaints, September 2015: 480
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 11,576,281
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 4.15

Number 12: Frontier Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: 39
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: 1,068,391
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: 3.65
Complaints, September 2015: 83
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 1,104,931
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 7.51

Number 13: Spirit Airlines
Complaints, September 2014: N/A
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2014: N/A
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2014: N/A
Complaints, September 2015: 164
Systemwide Enplanements, September 2015: 1,418,068
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, September 2015: 11.67

Air Travel Consumer Report November 2015.pdf

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

Contact: Michael Roberts

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