Flying this summer? Airline complaints reveal what you need to watch out for

Complaints against airlines soared to record heights in 2024, outpacing the growth in the number of passengers traveling.

Here’s some tips on how to reduce the risk of delays, cancellations, lost bags and overall airline hassles. (Find a full list here).

Know Your Rights

Thanks to a set of legislative and regulatory actions, passengers have more rights than we’ve had before. A couple of key ones:

• If your flight is cancelled for ANY reason, you can ask for a refund.
• If the cancellation or major delay was caused by the airline, all 10 of the largest airlines will rebook you on their airline at no charge and six of the 10 will rebook you on another airline at no charge. All 10 will also pay for meals and nine of the 10 will pay for hotels and ground transportation if a cancelled flight strands you overnight.
• After three hours of delay on a tarmac, airlines are required by law to allow passengers to get off the plane unless there’s a safety or security issue.

We always recommend – be nice and ask. You may get additional support, help or compensation.

Reduce Your Risk of Flying Hassles

Our report, The Plane Truth 2025, shows which airlines received the most and the least traveler complaints. Least complaints per 100,000 passengers were Southwest, Alaska and Hawaiian. Allegiant and United were also better than average.

The airline with the most complaints per 100,000 passengers was Frontier, far ahead of the second most airline – Spirit.

Photo by TPIN staff | TPIN

In addition to taking into account this complaint information before you book a flight, we also recommend checking out on-time performances by flight and this list of chronically delayed flights.

Other tips:

• Travel in the morning to minimize the risk of delays and cancellations
• Travel direct – something that we have more options to do flying out of Denver International Airport because of the number of direct flights and major carriers like Frontier, Southwest and United.
• Download the airlines apps – this can help you get to the “head of the line” to rebook or change a flight if there is a problem.
• Purchase flights via the airlines versus 3rd party ticket websites – it can make it easier to rebook or get a refund if there is a problem during travel.
• Use a credit card for your purchase – this comes with greater protections to dispute charges and get refunds.

Track the Day Of

Go to flightaware.com the day you are flying and see where your incoming flight is – this can allow you to anticipate problems and get ahead of the line if you need to change your plans.

You can also put a tracker in your bag. Small GPS trackers are fairly inexpensive, typically $20 to $25. Put one in your checked bag and your carry-on in case it gets checked at the gate so you can find them with your phone even if the airline doesn’t know where it’s at.

All of our tips can be found here.