Flight delays are more common now than they were five years ago, but airline complaints among travellers have fallen.

On average we tutted and tapped our feet for an extra 25 minutes waiting for charter flights at departure lounges around the UK’s major airports last year, and for scheduled flights it was 17 minutes.

At some UK airports, departure boards displayed nearly half of all flights as “Delayed” last year.

The worst offenders? Gatwick, Heathrow and Edinburgh were top of the flops for flight delays – with between 42 per cent and 33 per cent of flights running late. The previous year Luton topped the bill will half of all flights taking off or arriving late, but complaints by fliers have fallen nevertheless.

There were just over 11,000 complaints to the UK's official airline consumer watchdog, the Air Transport Users Council (AUC), in 2007/2008 – down from just over 12,000 the previous year. It’s the first time complaints have fallen in six years.

Nearly half of the complaints - 5,158 - that came to the AUC in writing and over the phone last year, were about cancelled and delayed flights, down from 6,370 the previous year.

Why are we waiting longer but complaining about it less?

Perhaps it’s a compliment to the airport catering and shopping that keeps us amused, or perhaps it’s because we enjoy taking the time to reflect before we board a plane – or perhaps we’re just getting used to it…

We’re becoming resigned to a shoddy airport experience, to the flight no longer being part of the holiday and those few hours of misery before we can forget about it over a sangria in the sunshine. When Terminal 5 was opened it was hailed as the breakthrough that would bring glamour back to the airport experience. We all know how that panned out.

Fed up of fruitless attempts to call premium-rate phone numbers and email generic complaints addresses, we’ve stopped complaining.

The AUC is more optimistic – they believe that the European Commission regulation that offers specific rights to passengers affected by cancellations, delays or mishandled baggage, might be working. The airlines are handling complaints better, according to the AUC, so fewer people come to them to complain.

“We were pleasantly surprised by the decrease in the numbers of complaints to the council last year compared to the previous year,” said AUC chairman Tina Tietjen. “We hope that this means passengers are experiencing a better service from airlines. But we think that it might have as much to do with passengers and airlines working better together to being able to resolve complaints without the need for our help.”

It's not all rosy from the AUC - difficulties still remain, says the organisation, for passengers seeking compensation from foreign countries where the flight disruption occurred abroad.

Will complaints continue to fall? It’s unlikely that this year’s figures will drop again – while the catastrophic opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 fell within the 2007/2008 period, most complaints to the AUC are likely to have come later, which will bulk up this year’s figures.

Or perhaps holidaymakers will vote with their feet – saddled with bad airport experiences and recession, fewer people are going abroad this year. During March to May 2008 the number of visits abroad by UK residents fell by 1 per cent to 17.7 million.

With a summer of strikes looming, airport misery looks likely this year – and you’ve got two options – stay at home, or settle into your airport seat with a good book…

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