CHICAGO, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Only 5.2 per 100,000 passengers were involuntary denied boarding by 12 main U.S. carriers in the first half of 2017, posting the lowest bumping rate in decades, an official report said on Tuesday.
This is seen as a remarkable improvement after a passenger was forcibly dragged off a flight from Chicago in April.
According to the latest Air Travel Consumer Report released by the U.S. Department of Transportation, especially for the second quarter of 2017, the carriers posted a bumping rate of 4.4 per 100,000 passengers, the lowest quarterly rate based on historical data dating back to 1995.
The rate was also down from the rate of 6.2 posted in both the second quarter of 2016 and the first quarter of 2017, the report showed.
However, the aviation sector still has a lot to do to improve its performance.
An American Airlines flight from New Orleans to Chicago O'Hare International Airport on June 14 delayed 214 minutes on the tarmac at Chicago O'Hare, said the report.
On April 9, a Vietnamese-American doctor was violently removed from his seat on an overbooked United Airlines flight by aviation policemen at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, to give seats to crew members, which sparked wide-spread criticism on social media.
The passenger later reached an undisclosed settlement with the carrier. The incident also prompted urgent calls for airliners to improve treatment for passengers.
