What is the best time to call airline customer service?

The best time of day to call customer service is in the morning. On average, call center wait times are 70% shorter before noon (between 5am and 12pm). The longest wait times are between 3pm and 12am.



To minimize wait times and speak with an agent quickly in 2026, the best time to call airline customer service is during the early morning hours, specifically between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM local time. During this window, call centers typically see their lowest volume of the day before the "midday rush" begins. Mid-week days, particularly Tuesday through Thursday, are also significantly quieter than Mondays (when travelers are resolving weekend issues) or the busy Friday-Sunday travel peak. Experts also suggest avoiding the lunch hour (12:00 PM to 2:00 PM) and the hours immediately following a major holiday. For international airlines, calling their overseas offices (e.g., calling the UK office of an airline during the middle of the night in the US) can sometimes yield faster results due to time zone differences. If phone lines are congested, utilizing the airline's mobile app chat or social media "Direct Message" features can often provide a faster response while allowing you to go about your day without being stuck on hold.

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The best fares are always on the airline's own website. If you call, many airlines will assess a surcharge for phone booking. You may find discounted tickets elsewhere but they often will not allow you access to the airline's own customer service when bad weather interrupts your trip or something else goes wrong.

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Therefore, you could make a legitimate business case that an acceptable average wait time for customer service is 2 minutes or less. Put differently, relax your service level to 95% of calls are answered by agents within 2 minutes or, said differently, a 95/120 standard.

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In 2022 , Frontier Airlines reported 20.26 customer complaints for each 100,000 enplanements on domestic-scheduled operations. This was the highest rate of customer complaints among U.S. carriers.

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5 Ways to Avoid Waiting on Hold
  1. 1) Take Your Problem to Twitter.
  2. 2) Pretend Like You Speak a Different Language.
  3. 3) Jump on Live Chat – It's Instant.
  4. 4) Get Customer Service to Call You.
  5. 5) Time Your Call.


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Here are the best airlines for customer service Customers say they like perennial favorites, including JetBlue, Southwest, Delta and Alaska. And in 2022, these carriers came through for passengers again — to a point.

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Air travel isn't always fun. Things go wrong. And while you're unlikely to get compensated because a summer thunderstorm made your plane late, it's often worth complaining to the airlines and seeing what you can get for your travel inconveniences.

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Why is customer service not emphasized in the airline industry? It's a commodity business, at least in economy, and 50% of your passengers you may never see again. At the low end, they compete on price, not service. It's not much different than any other mass market consumer product these days.

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If you plan to do the haggling yourself, be prepared to spend time on the phone with a representative at the airline's toll-free number. If you get a representative who is not amenable to negotiation, you can always hang up and try again.

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It's often best to email or write to the airline's consumer office at its corporate headquarters. DOT requires airlines that fly to, from, or within the United States to state on their websites how and where complaints can be submitted. There may be a form on the airline's website for this purpose.

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Spirit. Like Frontier, Spirit has the skinniest rows of any American airline, with a seat pitch of 28 inches — and they don't recline. Spirit lagged at 8 out of 10 American airlines studied in the in The Points Guys' 2021 report.

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Here's the ranking of US airlines from MOST complaints in May 2022 to LEAST complaints in May 2022:
  • American Airlines (575 complaints)
  • United Airlines (400 complaints)
  • Frontier Airlines (301 complaints)
  • Delta Air Lines (281 complaints)
  • Spirit Airlines (269 complaints)
  • JetBlue Airways (244 complaints)


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