Airline Representative: The percentage of flight delays caused by airline error decreased significantly this year. This indicates that airlines listened to complaints about preventable errors and addressed the problems. Although delays caused by weather and other uncontrollable factors will always be part of travel, preventable delays are clearly decreasing.


Which of the following most clearly points to a logical flaw in the representative's reasoning?



A. Airlines may be motivated by financial concerns to underreport the percentage of flight delays caused by airline error.


B. The delays caused by uncontrollable factors could have led to an increase in complaints to airlines.


C. Complaints may not be the most reliable measure of how many errors occurred in a given year.


D. Delays caused by weather and other uncontrollable factors could have increased dramatically during the year under discussion.


E. Airline customers might not believe that particular delays were caused by uncontrollable factors rather than airline error.


Doubt- Why is A incorrect?


Let’s look at the stimulus-


The percentage of flight delays caused by airline error decreased significantly this year. 

Opinion-This indicates that airlines listened to complaints about preventable errors and addressed the problems.

Although delays caused by weather and other uncontrollable factors will always be part of travel, preventable delays are clearly decreasing- opinion


We need to find an option that points out a logical flaw in the argument-


A. Airlines may be motivated by financial concerns to underreport the percentage of flight delays caused by airline error.


This option is irrelevant. What we need to find out is the logical flaw in the argument. The argument concludes that airlines have addressed the problems and that preventable delays are clearly decreasing because there has been a decrease in the percentage of flight delays caused by airline errors. Financial concerns do not address the flaw in the argument. Eliminate. 


Option D correctly captures the flaw in the argument.

The data is that the percentage of flight delays caused by airline errors has decreased. There are preventable delays caused by airline errors and delays that can be caused by weather and other uncontrollable factors. We only know that the percentage of flight delays caused by airline errors has decreased. From this, the airline representative draws a conclusion that preventable delays are decreasing.


Option D points out that delays caused by uncontrollable factors would have increased dramatically. Now, this can be the reason for a decrease in the percentage of flight delays caused by airline errors. NOT Because the airlines have listened to complaints and addressed the issues and that preventable delays have reduced but only because delays caused by uncontrollable factors have increased dramatically. Hence D is correct.