Complaints about US airlines have quadrupled in recent years

Airline passengers became so frustrated with their bags getting lost and flights being canceled last year, that they sent a near-record amount of gripes to the federal government. The number of complaints passengers sent to the US Department of Transportation, travel agents and third-party booking sites like Expedia and Priceline grew from 15,342 in 2019 to at least 60,732 in 2022, according to a report from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group. Complaints quadrupled in the past three years even though the number of flight passengers has fallen from 886m in 2019 to 799m last year, PIRG said in its report. Passengers complained about flight cancellations and delays getting ticket refunds more than any other issue, the consumer advocacy group said. About 60,000-plus complaints mark the second-highest tally since DOT started keeping tabs in 1997, Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog for PIRG, told CBS MoneyWatch. The record is 102,550 complaints filed in 2020. Murray noted that the 2022 figure does not include complaints passengers filed in December because DOT officials haven't released that data yet. "We're expecting at least 10,000, maybe 15,000 or 20,000," she said. "I'd be a little surprised, though, but not gobsmacked, if the December number pushed us into six figures for the year." Murray also noted that the 2022 total does not include complaints that passengers may have sent directly to an airline. <br/>