Airline ‘Bumping’ Of Passengers Falls To Lowest Rate Ever

(AP) Airlines bumped passengers off flights at the lowest rate on record last year after United Airlines was pilloried when a passenger was dragged off a full plane.

The Transportation Department said Thursday that airlines bumped about one passenger in every 29,000 in 2017, roughly half the rate of the year before.

The figures don’t count passengers who accept travel vouchers or other offers to voluntarily give up their seat on an oversold flight.

Meanwhile, there was a spike in long delays that trapped passengers in planes on the ground. Most occurred during a power outage that shut down the Atlanta airport, and many others were during a snowstorm a few days earlier, also in Atlanta.

United vaulted to the top of the government’s latest ratings for on-time flights, which cover December.

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