The Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Air Travel Consumer Report (ATCR) now includes the number of wheelchairs and scooters checked and mishandled by the 12 reporting airlines. The damage statistics are now required for the monthly consumer reports following Paralyzed Veterans of America’s lawsuit against the DOT, and subsequent Congressional action in the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018. This new information has been long-sought by disability rights organizations, led by Paralyzed Veterans of America, whose members say damaged equipment is one of their most common travel hassles.
January 2019:
| RANK |
CARRIER |
JANUARY 2019 |
| NUMBER OF WHEELCHAIRS AND SCOOTERS ENPLANED |
NUMBER OF WHEELCHAIRS AND SCOOTERS MISHANDLED |
PERCENT OF WHEELCHAIRS AND SCOOTERS MISHANDLED |
| 1 |
DELTA AIR LINES NETWORK |
12,670 |
107 |
0.84 |
| - DELTA AIR LINES |
10,239 |
91 |
0.89 |
| - BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS |
2,431 |
16 |
0.66 |
| 2 |
ALLEGIANT AIR |
863 |
11 |
1.27 |
| 3 |
UNITED AIRLINES NETWORK |
6,845 |
88 |
1.29 |
| - UNITED AIRLINES |
6,160 |
69 |
1.12 |
| - BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS |
685 |
19 |
2.77 |
| 4 |
ALASKA AIRLINES NETWORK |
1,632 |
23 |
1.41 |
| - ALASKA AIRLINES |
1,297 |
20 |
1.54 |
| - BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS |
335 |
3 |
0.90 |
| 5 |
HAWAIIAN AIRLINES NETWORK |
573 |
10 |
1.75 |
| - HAWAIIAN AIRLINES |
573 |
10 |
1.75 |
| - BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS |
0 |
0 |
0.00 |
| 6 |
JETBLUE AIRWAYS |
1,213 |
30 |
2.47 |
| 7 |
SPIRIT AIRLINES |
1,360 |
42 |
3.09 |
| 8 |
FRONTIER AIRLINES |
772 |
25 |
3.24 |
| 9 |
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES** |
4,352 |
178 |
4.09 |
| 10 |
AMERICAN AIRLINES NETWORK |
2,835 |
167 |
5.89 |
| - AMERICAN AIRLINES*** |
2,271 |
130 |
5.72 |
| - BRANDED CODESHARE PARTNERS |
564 |
37 |
6.56 |
| |
TOTAL |
33,115 |
681 |
2.06 |
* All U.S. operating airlines with at least 0.5 percent of total domestic scheduled-service passenger revenues, as determined by DOT's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
**Southwest informed the Department that for a portion of January 2019, it reported mishandlings of all power-assisted and manual wheelchairs and scooters; however, Southwest stated that its enplaned wheelchairs and scooters number did not include any manual wheelchairs enplaned by the carrier. Southwest has disclosed to the Department that it will have the ability to reliably capture manual wheelchairs enplaned on or after January 15, 2019, in its enplaned wheelchairs and scooters number submitted to the Department.
***American informed the Department that for January 2019, it reported mishandlings of all power-assisted and manual wheelchairs and scooters; however, American stated that its process for determining the enplanement number of wheelchairs and scooters may not have consistently accounted for all wheelchairs and scooters enplaned. American has also stated that this process may have impacted American’s wholly- owned subsidiary Envoy and American’s other branded code share carriers ExpressJet and SkyWest. American has indicated to the Department that it is enhancing its process to reliably capture all reportable enplaned wheelchairs and scooters, which may take a few months.
Full report from transportation.gov
Earlier reports:
December 2018 Mishandled Wheelchairs and Scooters | Full report from transportation.gov
Read our press release in response to the report.