Pilot shortages have caused thousands of delays and cancellations. Can air travel ever improve? 'I've never seen a summer like this. I don't think anyone ever has. Quite frankly, we're in uncharted territory here.' Hear more from OnPointRadio:
REBECCA: Hi, this is Rebecca calling from Buffalo, New York. My family of five, back in late March of 2022, we were traveling. My husband and I, with our four year old, our three year old, and our one year old. And while we know that there is inherent risk traveling with young children, what we experienced at the Tampa airport in late March was just beyond the pale.
So Rebecca is just one of the many, many, many listeners who called us with stories from the unfriendly skies. But people are still flying. In fact, demand is up. Airlines operated 26% more flights in March 2022 than in March 2021. But up to consumer complaints, up 300% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to the Department of Transportation. So we talked to the man who heads that department, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.
BUTTIGIEG: The cancelation rates were in the neighborhood of 3%, and that's still too high compared to what you would expect to see in a normal year. We know this isn't a normal year. Shockwaves from the pandemic are going through every part of the economy, including our aviation system. But these airlines, which received a lot of taxpayer funding to keep the system resilient, need to do their part. We're going to do our part.
McGEE: Sure. Well, it was you know, it was about 35 years ago, but it seems like it was about 3,500 years ago, in terms of how many changes there been in the industry. It was a much different industry then and there was much more of a focus on customer service. Now, I don't want to be someone who just waxes poetic about the past and says, the good old days. There are a lot of things wrong with the industry then as there are now.
CHAKRABARTI: Can you hang up here for a second and forgive me for interrupting, but I want to clarify one thing that you said earlier. When you said the industry is smaller than it's ever been before, you mean in terms of numbers of companies operating because of the consolidation.CHAKRABARTI: Yes. Okay. Yeah. I just wanted people to be to be clear on that. But we'll get to more about consolidation a little bit later.
CHAKRABARTI: Now that's one ... listener story. We tried to understand or get a better understanding of why all these delays are happening. And so we reached out to Massachusetts Democratic Senator Ed Markey, who's been advocating for consumers, for air travelers for quite some time. And he says that the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has some data that show airlines have control over more of the delays than they are suggesting publicly.
This is a very opaque industry. We're relying on the honor system for them to self-report their delays.'I Don't Know How They're Sustainable': Pilot Mike Richards Reflects On Airline Staffing Issues
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