Also Beat 2007 Marks For First Time This Year, But Complaints
Rise
The largest US airlines' rate of
on-time flights this past April was higher than in both the same
month last year and March 2008, according to the Air Travel
Consumer Report released Wednesday by the US Department of
Transportation (DOT). The rates of flight cancellations and
mishandled baggage also declined compared to the same periods,
according to the report.
According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation
Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT's Research and Innovative
Technology Administration (RITA), the 19 carriers reporting on-time
performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 77.7
percent in April, higher than both April 2007's 75.7 percent and
March 2008's 71.6 percent.
The consumer report includes BTS data on the number of domestic
flights canceled by the reporting carriers. In April, the carriers
canceled 1.7 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, lower
than both the rates of 1.8 percent in April 2007 and 2.6 percent in
March 2008.
When it comes to arriving at your destination on-time, your best
chances are on Hawaiian Airlines (90.5 percent on-time.)
Conversely, passengers should budget extra time if they're flying
on American Airlines (65.3 percent on-time,) United (72.8) or Mesa
(73.2). And if you fly American Airlines Flight 1555 from Miami to
San Juan, Puerto Rico, bring a book -- as that flight is late a
staggering 96.63 percent of the time.
Not surprisingly, American also led in most cancelled flights in
April, with 7.6 percent of its entire schedule scrapped. Most of
that figure can be attributed to the safety-related groundings of
its 300 MD-80 airliners, which led to the cancellation of over
3,400 flights. Frontier and Continental cancelled the fewest
flights in April, which both carriers scrubbing far less than one
percent of their schedules.
Data collected by BTS also shows the percentage of late flights
delayed by weather, including those reported in either the category
of extreme weather or included in National Aviation System delays.
In April, 37.89 percent of late flights were delayed by weather,
down 9.11 percent from April 2007, when 41.69 percent of late
flights were delayed by weather, and down 8.50 percent from March
when 41.41 percent of late flights were delayed by weather.
The US carriers reporting flight delays and mishandled baggage
data posted a mishandled baggage rate of 4.99 reports per 1,000
passengers in April, an improvement over both April 2007's rate of
6.34 and March 2008's 6.66 rate.
In April, the department received 1,113 complaints about airline
service from consumers, down 10.8 percent from the 1,248 complaints
filed in April 2007, but 9.9 percent more than the total of 1,013
received in March 2008.
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