Airlines had an increase in late flights and flight cancellations in August compared to the previous year, according to a U.S. Department of Transportation report.
The on-time arrival rate in August was 77.1 percent, a point 0.5 percent decrease from last year. In July, the on-time rate was 76.9 percent.
The number of canceled domestic flights was 2.2 percent of those scheduled, a .08 increase from August 2016 and a 1.1 percent increase from July 2017.
Mishandled baggage claims, meanwhile, decreased. There were 2.45 reports per 1,000 passengers in August. The previous month there had been 2.79 claims, and the previous year, there had been 3.15 reports.
According to the report, in August, there also were five regularly scheduled flights that were chronically delayed, meaning they were more than 30 minutes late more than 50 percent of the time for four consecutive months. The report also detailed that a total of 22.92 percent of flights were delayed because of aviation system delays, late-arriving aircraft, maintenance or crew problems, extreme weather, or for security reasons.
The Transportation Department’s report also showed that a percentage of flights, 2.41, were canceled or diverted, three animals died and one was injured, passenger complains fell 15.3 percent from 2016 to 1,907, and 98 disability-related and 11 discrimination complaints were filed with the department.