WASHINGTON – The nation’s airlines are failing to address the biggest complaints from passengers: delayed or canceled flights and lost baggage, the government says.

Though some customer services have improved, the Transportation Department’s inspector general said Monday, more than a quarter of flights were delayed, canceled or diverted in 2000, affecting about 163 million passengers. Customer complaints increased dramatically.

“We believe the airlines should go further and address steps they are taking on matters within their control to reduce overscheduling, the number of chronically late or canceled flights, and the amount of checked baggage that does not show up with the passenger upon arrival,” the report said.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said the report documents the need for legislation to protect the rights of air passengers and shows that airlines have fallen far short of the goals in their voluntary agreement with Congress to improve service.

“Air passengers pay substantial fares in return for transit from airport to airport, and when carriers fail to deliver this service, consumers are justifiably upset,” said Snowe, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee on Aviation.

The inspector general recommended that airlines implement a system to inform passengers of lengthy delays or cancellations before they arrive at the airport.

The report examined the airlines’ compliance with a 1999 package of voluntary measures to improve the quality of air travel. The airlines and the Transportation Department agreed on the standards as an alternative to legislation to require customer service improvements.

Several lawmakers have been pushing for better service ever since hundreds of travelers were stuck on Detroit runways for up to eight hours during a January 1999 snowstorm.

Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., authored a passenger bill of rights after the Detroit snowstorm and plans to reintroduce it this session. He said the report is evidence that Congress should take action to increase competition and enforce passenger rights.

“Voluntary commitments are only that – promises to do better,” Dingell said. “This report makes clear that these promises are not enough and things are not getting better.”

Officials from the Air Transport Association, which represents 14 airlines, did not respond immediately to calls for comment.

The report found that the number of chronically delayed flights nearly quadrupled from 8,348 to 40,868 between 1999 and 2000. A chronically delayed flight is one that arrived at least 15 minutes later than scheduled 80 percent of the time during a month.

It said the airlines are not giving passengers timely information about delays and cancellations. Policies for providing overnight accommodations for delays and cancellations vary by airline and need clarity so passengers know what to expect, the report said.

“I am not interested in calling for a constitutional right to a fluffy pillow on your airplane flight,” said Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. “But I do think that it is high time that the airlines made information available to the public that is in their possession.”

The report said the airlines were doing a good job of meeting passenger needs during long delays on grounded aircraft, quoting the lowest fare available, holding nonrefundable reservations, responding to customers’ complaints and paying more for lost luggage.

The voluntary agreement calls for airlines to aim to return lost baggage within 24 hours, but the report found the 24-hour recovery varied by airline from 58 percent to 91 percent.

It also said the Transportation Department had inadequate resources to deal with consumer protection and unfair competition regulations. The inspector general noted that although complaints increased to record levels with more than 23,000 in 2000, there were only 20 staffers to handle complaints, down from 40 in 1985.