Our Objective(s)To assess the controls BTS has in place to ensure the completeness and accuracy of data for on-time performance and reported causes of delays and cancellations.Why This AuditFlight disruptions, including both flight delays and cancellations, are a part of many passengers’ experiences. Air carriers are required to submit to BTS on-time performance data—such as departure and arrival times, elapsed flight times, and minutes of delay—as well as the reported causes of any delayed or canceled flights. Accurate reporting of these data is important for the Department of Transportation (DOT) to understand the causes of delays and cancellations and take actions to protect consumers.What We FoundBTS relies on informal procedures to verify the accuracy of on-time performance data and lacks procedures to verify the data’s completeness.BTS has established informal quality control procedures to identify inaccuracies in on-time performance data submitted by reporting carriers. For example, BTS developed an automated process that performs 117automated checks of the data to identify any errors or inconsistencies.However, BTS has not yet formally adopted these procedures nor established a plan to ensure their continued execution.Although BTS requires reporting carriers to certify that the on-time performance information they submit is correct and complete, the Agency does not have a method for verifying that carriers are reporting data for all flights, raising concerns about the data’s reliability.BTS lacks effective guidance and procedures for verifying reported causes data.BTS’ technical directives, which provide guidance to carriers on reporting the causes of flight delays and cancellations, lack clarity, leading air carriers to interpret the guidance and report their data inconsistently.BTS lacks procedures to identify and address inconsistencies in reported causes data. Instead, the Agency relies on methods the air carriers are using to ensure their submitted data is accurate.We found a high rate of disagreement between data from FAA on reported causes versus the data that carriers report to BTS. BTS has not taken steps to understand and address the causes of these discrepancies.RecommendationsWe made 7 recommendations to improve the completeness and consistency of on-time performance and reported causes data.
Open Recommendations
| Recommendation Number | Significant Recommendation | Recommended Questioned Costs | Recommended Funds for Better Use | Additional Details | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Update and formalize the Agencys standard operating procedures for collecting, processing, and disseminating airline on-time performance data and make sure that these procedures are disseminated internally and available to all relevant staff. | |||||
| 2 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Conduct an assessment of whether the BTS Data Administrator position and any other position should be designated as mission critical. | |||||
| 3 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop succession plans for any mission-critical positions. | |||||
| 4 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop and implement a process to verify that carriers are reporting on-time performance data for all flights. | |||||
| 5 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Evaluate the Agencys technical directives to identify areas where it could provide clarifying or additional guidance to promote consistency in the data reported by carriers. | |||||
| 6 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Work with FAA to understand no-matches in the National Airspace System (NAS) delay data between BTS Airline Service Quality Performance (ASQP) and FAAs Aviation System Performance Metrics (ASPM) databases; and improve the consistency of air-carrier reported NAS delay data by providing additional carrier guidance as applicable. | |||||
| 7 | Yes | $0 | $0 | ||
| Develop and implement a process to assess the consistency across air carriers reporting of causes of delay data. | |||||
