Airlines see sharp rise in complaints

Customer complaints about the airline industry have risen by 11% in a year with cancellations the biggest gripe, it was revealed today.

The Air Transport Users Council (AUC) said it handled a total of 12,307 complaints and enquiries in 2008/09, compared with 11,077 the previous year.

There were 3,770 complaints and queries about cancelled flights, up from 3,527 a year ago.

Delays were the second most popular type of issue, at 1,529, followed by mishandled baggage, which attracted 1,220.

AUC chairman Tina Tietjen said the increased use of technology for booking tickets had also led to an upsurge of complaints.

She said: "We received an increase in complaints about the extra charges airlines have introduced for services previously included in the fare.

"This has brought benefits to passengers in terms of potentially cheaper fares for those that don't need to use these services.

"But many passengers who contacted us were concerned that they were often not getting value for money for what they were paying for these services."