The record of delays and cancellations among U.S. airlines improved somewhat in September, 2008, according to this month’s federal Department of Transportation Bureau of Transportation Statistics report. But the group assigned to come up with a better way to handle flights delayed on airport tarmacs failed miserably.
The worst news was for passengers who flew on American Airlines Flight 1267 from Miami to San Juan, Puerto Rico. They were late more than 86 % of the time. Almost as bad was Comair flight 6273 from Cleveland to Atlanta, which was late more than 83 % of the time.
The overall report card for September was a bit brighter than it has been compared with earlier periods, but there have also been drastic cuts in service on many airlines, so perhaps the skies are simply a little less crowded.
On the bad news side, the percentage of late flights delayed by weather was up 8.5 % compared to a year earlier. And the rate that passengers are bumped from flights went up as well. The 19 major carriers that the DOT statistics department follows posted a bumping rate of 1.03 per 10,000 passengers for the quarter, up from the 0.99 rate for the third quarter of 2007.
Meanwhile,any hope is gone, at least temporarily, for relief for fliers stuck on the tarmac of airports on planes that for one reason or other can’t take off. Aero-News.com, an online trade publication, began its article on the so-called Tarmac Task Force this way:
“Anyone holding out hope the federal government would finally add some teeth to guidelines on how airlines should handle passenger stranding should probably stop reading now.”
The task force, a group made up of federal officials, airline executives and passengers rights advocates that first met last December, ”couldn't even decide on the definition of what a 'lengthy delay' should be... and it only gets worse from there,” Aero-News.com continued.
According to the Associated Press, the toothless task force is close to a total failure. It “was dominated by the airline industry. (Its) report to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters doesn't recommend a specific limit on how long passengers can be kept waiting without the opportunity to return to a gate. Nor does the task force recommend that Peters make the guidelines mandatory."
Highest On-Time Arrival Rates
Here were the best perfomances – as usual, Hawaiian Airlines won the top award. Hawaiian also ranked best in terms of fewest cancelled flights.
1. Hawaiian Airlines – 95.1 percent
2. Frontier Airlines – 91.4 percent
3. Pinnacle Airlines – 90.6 percent
Lowest On-Time Arrival Rates
And at the bottom of the list, courtesy DOT’s statistics:
1. Comair – 77.4 percent
2. Mesa Airlines – 78.1 percent
3. United Airlines – 79.8 percent
Highest Rates of Canceled Flights
A bit surprising was the new leader in cancellations :
1. Continental Airlines – 6.1 percent
2. ExpressJet Airlines – 5.9 percent
3. American Eagle Airlines – 2.5 percent
Grace Lichtenstein - I prefer "seasoned" to "senior" but whatever term you use, I have been an outdoor adventurer for most of my adult years. I am a cycling ...
