It was another busy month for complaints. Readers filed 337 grievances, just a few cases shy of our record 342 complaints received last August.
American Airlines continued its winning streak in the complaints department, claiming almost 11 percent of our formal grievances. United Airlines and Expedia followed, although they offered no meaningful competition.
We typically receive only the most difficult cases through our help form. The grievances represent a tiny fraction of the overall problems with a company. Often, consumers come to us when they’ve tried everything, up to and including litigation.
Here’s what March looked like:
| MARCH 2017 | ||
| Company | Complaints | Percent |
| American Airlines | 36 | 10.68% |
| United Airlines | 23 | 6.82% |
| Expedia | 16 | 4.75% |
| Enterprise Rent-A-Car | 12 | 3.56% |
| Delta Air Lines | 11 | 3.26% |
| Hertz Rent a Car | 8 | 2.37% |
| Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) | 7 | 2.08% |
| AT&T | 5 | 1.48% |
| Airbnb | 5 | 1.48% |
| British Airways | 5 | 1.48% |
Here’s the previous month:
| FEBRUARY 2017 | ||
| Company | Complaints | Percent |
| American Airlines | 23 | 9.24% |
| United Airlines | 19 | 7.63% |
| Delta Air Lines | 8 | 3.21% |
| Hertz Rent a Car | 8 | 3.21% |
| AT&T | 7 | 2.81% |
| Amazon.com | 7 | 2.81% |
| Expedia | 7 | 2.81% |
| Southwest Airlines | 7 | 2.81% |
| Enterprise Rent-A-Car | 6 | 2.41% |
| Air Canada | 5 | 2.01% |
To put this into context, here’s where we were last March:
| MARCH 2016 | ||
| Company | Complaints | Percent |
| American Airlines | 36 | 13.19% |
| Delta Air Lines | 14 | 5.13% |
| Expedia | 12 | 4.40% |
| United Airlines | 12 | 4.40% |
| Viking | 9 | 3.30% |
| Hertz | 7 | 2.56% |
| AT&T | 5 | 1.83% |
| Avis | 5 | 1.83% |
| Southwest Airlines | 5 | 1.83% |
| Spirit Airlines | 5 | 1.83% |
Here’s the previous month:
| FEBRUARY 2016 | ||
| Company | Complaints | Percent |
| American Airlines | 42 | 16.09% |
| United Airlines | 14 | 5.36% |
| Expedia | 12 | 4.60% |
| Hertz | 7 | 2.68% |
| British Airways | 6 | 2.30% |
| Delta Air Lines | 6 | 2.30% |
| Southwest Airlines | 6 | 2.30% |
| AT&T | 5 | 1.92% |
| Spirit Airlines | 5 | 1.92% |
| Avis | 4 | 1.53% |
So what do these numbers mean? To be honest, I’m having a difficult time finding any meaning here. Month after month, we see complaints about the same companies with one or two variations.
I’m sorry to be cynical about this, but I can’t see any meaningful trend.
✓ American’s lead is unquestionable. If you want to complain, fly on American. Sure, it’s the biggest airline, but even weighted for its size (which some of our mathematically-inclined commenters have done) it’s still overperforming — or should I say, underperforming?
✓ United and Delta should not be so smug about their second or third place ranking. As my teen-ager would say, they still suck. No two ways about it: Our domestic carriers are a customer-service disaster area.
✓ Car rental companies definitely showed up to the party. But they are fighting to keep up with the big airlines.
✓ Expedia. Ah, Expedia. Words fail me.
So there you have it. We’ll continue collecting cases and reporting on them. Hey, it’s the least I can do.
Don’t forget to file a complaint with us so that we can count it.
