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U.S. airline delays worsened in May for a fifth straight month, and the passenger-complaint rate surged 45%, the Transportation Department said.

Only 77.9% of May flights arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, down from 78.3% in the same month in 2006, the agency said on its website, www.dot.gov/affairs/dot6507.htm . The complaint rate jumped to 1.13 per 100,000 passengers, compared with 0.78 last year.

Delays in May kept 2007's on-time arrival rate at the worst since 1995, a reflection of growing aviation gridlock as carriers add flights while the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration works to upgrade air-traffic control equipment. Bad weather at some of the biggest hubs also slowed operations.

"It's off to a bad start, and travelers need to be prepared," said George Hamlin, managing director of Airline Capital Associates in Fairfax, Va. "It's likely not to be a fun summer to travel, and that could have a dampening effect going forward."

The number of flights arriving on time has fallen each month in 2007 compared with 2006. Through May, the rate was 73.6%, the lowest annual figure since the U.S. began tracking the data in the current format 12 years ago, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a DOT agency.