WASHINGTON – Airlines bumped the fewest passengers in decades during the first half of the year, the Transportation Department announced Tuesday.
Airlines involuntarily denied boarding to 0.52 passengers out of every 10,000 from January through June, according to the department's monthly Air Travel Consumer Report. The rate reflects 17,330 passengers involuntarily denied boarding out of 332,415,301.
That rate was lower than the previous record of 0.62 passengers per 10,000 that was set in the first half of 2016. It's also the lowest since the department began keeping track in 1995, according to the report from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
The improvement comes amid a worldwide firestorm of publicity about bumped passengers that began in April, when United Airlines had a passenger dragged off a full flight in Chicago.
United apologized repeatedly for the incident and reached a settlement with the passenger, David Dao.
Congress held hearings about the incident and threatened legislation. And airlines began offering more incentives for passengers on overbooked flights to voluntarily postpone their travel.
