The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently examined Department of Transportation (DOT) performance objectives for airlines and customer protection procedures. The GAO found that while customer service has improved over the past decade, the number of complaints has increased 10 percent.
Complains included denied boardings, mishandled baggage, and late flights.
DOT lacked performance measures for three objectives, and DOT efforts do not fully align with four key practices for consumer education.
“While DOT has defined the goals and objectives of its outreach efforts, it has not used budget information to prioritize efforts or established performance measures to assess the results,” the report said. “DOT has also not solicited input directly from passengers to understand what they know about their rights.”
GAO made six recommendations.
The DOT secretary should assess department procedures and training materials regarding the coding of airline passengers’ complaints. The analysis will determine whether complaints are coded consistently and properly identified.
DOT should assess the feasibility of updating its airline case-management system.
Performance measures should be established for five key airline-compliance activities.
The DOT should obtain feedback from airline passengers and use this information to update its airline-passenger education efforts.
The DOT secretary should identify short- and long-term funds available for DOT’s education efforts.
Performance measures should be established for airline passengers’ education efforts.