Which domestic airlines would you vote the worst in terms of delays and cancellations? Take your pick. Not many U.S. carriers had what mature leisure travelers would call a good on-time record.
The latest government statistics based on January 2007 data show that these had more than 30 percent of flights arriving late: Skywest, Atlantic Southeast, Comair, American Eagle, American Airlines, and Jet Blue.
Problem: Statistics mislead. They mask the fact that some carriers are subsidiaries of major airlines or operators of flights for major airlines. Comair is wholly owned by Delta. Altantic Southeast runs flights for Delta but is owned by SkyWest, which operates flights for both United and Delta. American Eagle is (surprise!) a part of American Airlines.
Bottom line: when you unscramble these skewed figures, Delta and American suck in terms of on-time arrivals, along with Jet Blue, the biggest fallen star in the skies.
Does any big airline have an almost decent on-time record? Yes -- Southwest Airlines. Only 17.6 percent of its flights were counted as late in January 2007. (Both Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines ranked higher, but with more limited departures. Maybe we should all fly only to Hawaii.)
There does not seem to be a record kept of how many flights are delayed at the gate, as opposed to on the tarmac. That's too bad, because seniors and boomers are especially at risk for an uncomfortable, even dangerous day when a plane holds passengers captive for hours rather than allowing them to deplane, walk around, go to the bathroom, and in some cases retrieve critical medications that were packed in checked luggage.
When bad weather hits, major airports can be crippled for days. That happened starting Feb. 14 when a snowstorm snarled air travel and led to the Jet Blue horror stories of being stuck on planes with overflowing toilets and fetid air.
The most recent storm, which lingered through Saturday morning March 10, similarly forced hundreds of cancellations. Once again, there was a terrible report of a Royal Air Maroc jetliner stuck on the runway at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York for 14 hours before it was able to limp back to a gate.
How can travelers fight back?
- Before heading for the airport check flightstats.com for the latest info on delays plus reports of chronic airline problem.
- Protest by filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Aviation Consumer Protection Division. Details on how to do this properly are found at its Web site.
- Shares your woes. Join the discussion about Lousy Air Travel that I started after my last rant on airline tribulations.
- Finally, if you're stuck on a plane be sure to get out of your seat and walk around frequently. Otherwise, you could be at risk for deep vein thrombosis, otherwise known as Economy Class Syndrome, when potentially life-threatening blood clots can form in the legs of passengers confined to seats for too long.
