Latest Government Reports Warns Seniors And Others That Weather Not Lone Culprit In Rating U.S. Flight Delays And Cancellations. Good News? Fewer Bags Mishandled.

More than one quarter – roughly 28 percent -- of flights in the U.S. in January 2008 were delayed or cancelled, according to the latest report from the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Seniors and other flyers who found themselves stuck in U.S. airports this winter can blame difficult weather but also the overcrowded skies.

Worst Records: United Airlines, SkyWest, American Eagle, American Airlines

What stands out in the report is that United Airlines --among the biggest fleets in the nation -- was ranked dead last among the 20 largest airlines, with an on-time rate of only 62 percent. SkyWest was next with 65 percent. American Eagle was rated third worst with almost 66 percent and American Airlines, the largest in the U.S. was fourth worst airline with slightly more than 66 percent on-time arrivals.

As bad as the numbers were, “the results were an improvement from December -- usually a busier month for leisure travelers -- when the nearly 36 percent of flights by these commercial airlines were delayed, diverted or cancelled, the Associated Press reported.

Best Airline for On-Time Arrivals: Hawaiian Airlines

Passengers who flew to Hawaii in January were luckier than most. The top airlines for on-time arrivals were Hawaiian (94 percent) and Aloha (93 percent.) The next two slipped considerably by comparison – 79.5 percent for US Airways and 78.5 for Delta.

Here are the remaining dismal numbers:

5. AirTran: 78.04

6. Southwest: 77.43

7. JetBlue: 76.69

8. Frontier: 76.44

9. Continental: 74.66

10. Alaska: 73.00

11. ExpressJet: 72.76

12. Northwest: 72.35

13. Comair: 72.29

14. Atlantic Southeast: 70.95

15. Pinnacle: 69.06

16. Mesa: 68.68

Not surprisingly, complaints were up: There were 1,174 complaints in January, up from 849 in December, according to the Associated Press.

“Analysts say things are likely to get worse as rising passenger demand and an industry preference for smaller planes magnifies congestion in the skies and on runways,” according to the AP.

If there is a ray of good news, it concerns baggage. Airlines reporting to the BTS “posted a mishandled baggage rate of 7.37 reports per 1,000 passengers in January, an improvement over both January 2007’s rate of 8.19 and December 2007’s 9.01 rate.”

Not Just Weather Delays

The airlines “reported that 8.42 percent of their flights were delayed by aviation system delays… 8.41 percent by late-arriving aircraft… 6.79 percent by factors within the airline’s control, such as maintenance or crew problems,” said the BTS report. Extreme weather caused less than 1 percent of the delays. Less serious weather delays did cause many flights to take off and land later than 15 minutes, which is how the government measures whether a flight is on time.