Got an Airline Complaint? Best to Take it to the Government

The Wall Street Journal reports today that “airlines admit they do pay more attention to consumer complaints if travelers send them to the DOT, which categorizes and tallies complaints and publishes monthly rankings of airline performance.”

This is confirmed by a senior Transportation official, who said “We’re more than just a statistics- capturing office. Airlines are very sensitive to the complaints the department receives.”

Jim Ruppel, vice president of customer relations for Southwest echoed the assertion, he says they pay “huge attention” to internal reports based on DOT complaint data.

Send your complaints to: airconsumer@dot.gov