Continenfol, Piedmont and Hawaiian have best consumer
complaint records for first half of 1973, CAB data show
Continental Airlines took top spot among U, S.
trunkline carriers with the best record in consumer
complaints for the first half of 1973.
Among the local service carriers, Piedmont Air
lines continued its fine record edging out Frontier
for the first six months with 3.92 complaints per
100,000 passenger boardings compared to the latter’s
3.96.
Hawaiian Airlines, meanwhile, maintained its lead
among regional carriers with only 1.04 complaints
per 1W),000 boardings compared to Aloha’s 1.42.
Most encouraging aspect of the six-month figures
is that the rate of increase in total industry com
plaints has dropped off from the alarming high of
the first part of the year. Civil Aeronautics Board’s
Office of Consumer Affairs received 6,128 complaints
about U. S. scheduled airline service for the first
six months. It had received 5,483 for the first four
months (ATW, June, p. 42).
Although the rate of increase showed a decline,
the number of complaints for the first half of this
year was much higher than for the same period
last year. There were 7,676 total complaints against
all passenger service for the first half of 1973, and
there were 5,146 for the same period last year.
A major reason for the increase is said to be that
passengers are growing increasingly aware of the
CAB consumer office; i.e., they now have a vent
for their frustrations. But this theory is offset by
the record among non-U. S. carriers, complaints
about which the CAB also receives. These carriers
produced 556 complaints for the first half of 1973,
an actual decline from the 600 for the same period
last year.
According to CAB, the greatest cause for com
plaints is a delayed flight. Of the 7,676 total com
plaints for the first half of this year, 1,020 concerned
flight delays. The next biggest sources of annoyance
are problems with fares and refunds.
Although there is substantial shifting of positions
among the carriers in the rankings from month to
month, a few carriers appear to stay near the top.
Among the trunks, Continental, Western and Delta
are usually ranked one, two, three.
Delta had the best record for 1972. Western had
the best record for the first four months of 1973, and
Continental took over the top spot for the first half.
Also of interest in the trunkline standings is the
fact that three carriers — Continental, Northwest
and TWA — had better complaint rates for the first
half of 1973 than for all of 1972, despite the higher
number of total complaints for the industry as a
whole.
Northwest is showing the greatest improvement
with only 3.16 complaints per 100,000 boardings, com
pared to 4.60 during 1972, when it had pilots’ strike.
TWA advanced from last place in 1972 to sixth place
for the first half of this year.
Among the locals. Piedmont is establishing itself
as a consistent leader. It had the best record for
1972, and led again for the first half of this year.
Frontier is showing the greatest improvement, ad
vancing from sixth place in 1972 to second place for
the first half of 1973.
How U. S. airlines rate with the consumer
Jan. - June 1973
Airline
Complaint i
U. S. trunkline carriers
Continental
2.19
Western
2 53
Delta
3.04
Northwest
3.16
United
3.53
Trans World
5.45
Braniff
7.29
American
8.73
National
9.39
Pan American
9.48
Eastern
11.41
Local service carriers
Piedmont
3.92
Frontier
3.96
North Central
4.13
Texas Int’l.
4.32
Southern
5.23
Hughes Airwest
5.44
Ozark
6.73
Allegheny
7.89
Regional airlines
Hawaiian
1.04
Aloha
1.42
Wien Air Alaska
1.97
Alaska
20.48
—from Air Transport World
September 1973
presstime postscripts
X
nEDmonmiH
August/September, 1973
Vol. XXIV, No. 5
Board approves realignment
There seems to be some confusion on the
extent of flexibility granted Piedmont in the
route realignment approved by the Civil Aero
nautics Board for effectiveness October 26.
First, the one segment route map published
in the last Piedmonitor has led people to the
false conclusion that we now have nonstop
authority in such markets as Baltimore-New
York, Atlanta-Memphis and Chicago-Cincinnati.
Those and other similar city pairs are restricted
from nonstop flights. As explained in the first
article “the order of points on the proposed new
certificate has no significance.”
Second, Piedmont will continue to be re
stricted in a few over 140 city pair combina
tions, all of which have competitive authoriza
tions. While restrictions will thus continue to be
abundant, there is considerable improvement
compared to the approximate 560 restrictions
in our certificate for the 1,118 city pairs we
are authorized to serve.
Although the new single segment certificate
is relatively simple, when compared to the old
multi-segment certificate, there are many com
plications involved.
Any questions you have on the route re-align
ment, or any questions from the general public
should be directed to Bob Kadlec, director of
research, INT-ZZ.
The accidental death and dismemberment insurance
plan has been reopened. This insurance plan is optional
and the monthly premiums are paid through payroll
deductions.
Any employee desiring to enroll or change the
amount of coverage must do so before December 1,
1973. The last page of the booklet should be used for
this purpose.
Check your bulletin board for further details.
* * *
Because of the unexpected jet equipment shortage
some flights have been cancelled and adjustments
made in other flights, efl'ective November 1. Detailed
changes have been teletyped to all stations. A new
employee schedule will be issued immediately. At this
time there is no plan to revise the October 28 passenger
timetable to reflect these changes.
Living costs are up, but Piedmont salaries are up even more
During recent months when living costs have
been constantly increasing, we may be finding it
more and more difficult to “make ends meet”
even with wages at an all-time high — and for
good reason. According to an article in a recent
issue of the Tax Foundation’s “Monthly Tax
Features,” a person earning 35% more in
1973 than he earned in 1966 actually has less
“purchasing power” than he had in 1966 after
taking into account tax increases and infla
tionary cost increases.
Here’s how the computation works. Take a
family of four with one earner and $10,000
income in 1966, with a 35% pay increase he
would earn $13,500 in 1973. Federal income
taxes withheld would have risen from $945 to
$1,401. The Social Security tax increased from
$277 to $632 and state income taxes have added
another $139 to the tax bite. During this period
the dollar has lost 36.6% of its purchasing
power due to inflation. After putting it all to
gether, the person in the example has lost ap
proximately $466 in terms of 1966 dollars.
Out of curiosity, we applied the same factors
to wages paid to Piedmont employees to see
how we are doing. The over-all annual wages
of Piedmont employees increased 69% from
June 30, 1966 to June 30, 1973. In checking
wages of the various classifications of employ
ees, we find that the lowest rate of increase
for any classification was 58%. For a person
in the group with the lowest rate of increase,
his purchasing power has risen 8% to 10%, as
demonstrated by the first table:
Employees with the over-all average wage
increase have experienced a 14% to 16%
growth in 1966 dollars as shown in the second
table.
These figures do not take into account the
wider range of employee benefits now paid
for by the Company which were formerly paid
for, at least in part, by the employees.
Loss Due
Net Gain
Salary
Increase
To
In
Percentage
58% Increase
In Taxes
Inflation
Purchasing
of
1966 1973
1966-1973
36.6%
Power
Increase
$ 5,000 $ 7,900
$ 657
$1,794
$449
10.0%
7,500 11,850
1,183
2,564
603
9.4%
10,000 15,800
1,740
3,329
731
8.7%
12,500 19,750
2,395
4,031
824
8.1%
Loss Due
NeiGaln
Salary
Increase
To
In
Percentage
58% Increase
In Taxes
Inflation
Purchasing
of
1966 1973
1966-1973
36.8%
Power
Increase
$ 5,000 $ 8,450
$ 866
$1,885
$ 699
15.7%
7,500 12,675
1,432
2,718
1,025
16.0%
10,000 16,900
2,176
3,507
1,217
14.5%
12,500 21,125
2,893
4,266
1,466
14.4%