(Thousands of passengers)

Embedded Dataset Excel:

Dataset Excel:

Notes:

Since merging with Delta, data for Northwest Airlines are included under Delta as of January 2010.

United Airlines revised its Denied Boarding quarterly reports for January 2011 to March 2011, April 2011 to June 2011, July 2011 to September 2011 and October 2011 to December 2011, after the submissions were published in the ATCR. This table reflects these revisions.

AirTran Airways revised its Denied Boarding quarterly report for October 2011 to December 2011, after the submissions were published in the ATCR. This table reflects this revision.

Effective January 2011, Comair and Pinnacle Airlines are no longer ranked in this table. Totals for January – December 2010 reflect the deletion of Comair and Pinnacle’s data for that quarter.

Effective January 2012, data of the merged operations of United Air Lines and Continental Airlines are combined. Effective January 2012, data of the merged operations of ExpressJet Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines are combined. 

Endeavor Air, formerly Pinnacle Airlines, was ranked for the first time in 1st Quarter of 2013.  

Effective January 2014, the American Airlines and US Airways data are combined as American Airlines; the Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways data are combined as Southwest Airlines.

Effective April 2018, data of the merged operations of Alaska Airlines and Virgin America are combined, and appear only as Alaska Airlines. Totals for the ranking period reflect the deletion of Virgin America’s data.

The data for 2020 are abnormal due to the COVID-19 pandemic and not indicative of the overall annual trend.

Description:

KEY: R = revised.

^a Before 1994, carriers included both majors and national airlines, i.e., airlines with over $100 million in revenue. Prior to 2018, data include nonstop scheduled service between points within the United States (including territories) by U.S. air carriers with at least 1% of the total domestic scheduled service passenger revenues and operate aircraft with a passenger capacity of more than 60 seats. In 2018 and later, data include all reporting operating U.S. airlines.

^b Number of passengers who hold confirmed reservations and are denied boarding ("bumped") from a flight because it is oversold. These figures include only passengers whose oversold flight departs without them; they do not include passengers affected by canceled, delayed, or diverted flights. 

Source:

U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings, Aviation Consumer Protection Division, Air Travel Consumer Report (Washington, DC: Annual February Issues), Passengers Denied Boarding by Reporting Operating U. S. Airlines, available at http://www.dot.gov/airconsumer/air-travel-consumer-reports as of May 2, 2024.