Relationship Between Airline Service Performance and Customer Complaints for Legacy Network Carriers and Low-Cost Carriers in the USA

Complaints to third-party entities like government agencies reflect a high level of customer dissatisfaction. Such complaints in the airline industry typically reflect a failure to redress first-stage complaints and often attract negative publicity. This paper examined the relationship between passenger complaints filed with the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and airline quality from 2006-2019 for leading legacy network carriers and low-cost carriers. Operational performance data (punctuality, oversales, and mishandled baggage) and complaints reported to DOT were used as proxy for airline quality. Regression analysis showed punctuality had a negative effect and oversales had a positive effect on rate of complaints for both types of carriers. Mishandled baggage had no effect on complaint rate for discount carriers and negative effect on complaint rate. Implications of these results are discussed.