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Annual Airline Achievement Report Released

Posted by samzenpus on from the better-than-terrible dept.

According to an annual report by Dean Headley, a business professor at Wichita State University, flying is getting slowly better. Lost bag reports, delayed flights, service complaints and cases of getting bumped from your flight were all slightly down in 2011. From the article: "Hawaiian Airlines did the best job of arriving on time with an average of 92.8 percent, while JetBlue Airways had the worst on-time performance, 73.3 percent. A flight is considered on time if it arrives within 15 minutes of when it was originally due. Nearly half the 15 airlines improved their on-time arrival performance in 2011, and seven had an on-time arrival percentage over 80 percent — Hawaiian, Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Mesa Airlines. The average on-time performance for the industry was 80 percent last year, just a tad better than 2010's average of 79.8 percent."

9 of 78 comments (clear)

  1. Games airlines play by Enuratique · · Score: 5, Informative

    The flight time listed for ATL-> RIC when purchasing tickets is about 90 minutes, but the time from takeoff to touchdown is only 63 minutes. They've padded the flight time to account for issues at the airport so that they can more often meet this punctuality window. For example, my flight yesterday took off 11 minutes late, and still arrived 10 minutes early.

    --
    A black hole is where God divided by 0
    1. Re:Games airlines play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

      How's that a "game"? Sounds like good planning.

      Don't you ever leave 10 minutes early to ensure you make an appointment on time? Is that also considered a "game"?

    2. Re:Games airlines play by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The flight time listed for ATL-> RIC when purchasing tickets is about 90 minutes, but the time from takeoff to touchdown is only 63 minutes.

      Do they list 'flight time' or 'travel time?' Usually it's the latter - Travel time. In this scenario, time spent on the tarmac taxiing should be factored into the equation.

    3. Re:Games airlines play by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Of course not. I'm married. We always leave for an appointment precisely when the appointment actually occurs. No matter how far away.

    4. Re:Games airlines play by xaxa · · Score: 4, Interesting

      How's that a "game"? Sounds like good planning.

      Don't you ever leave 10 minutes early to ensure you make an appointment on time? Is that also considered a "game"?

      Hmm... I think I'd rather that was my responsibility or risk.

      The first train I catch to visit my parents used to have a scheduled time of 72 minutes. There is only one intermediate stop. It used to arrive about a minute or two early, and very occasionally five minutes late -- generally if there was a big football match at the intermediate stop's town. Now, the time is supposedly 77 minutes. However, the train still arrives at the same time -- so it's normally 6-7 minutes early.

      Many people change trains at this station, and the journey planning software allows some time (5 minutes?) to do that. Previously, with a scheduled arrival of 18:00 it would recommend taking the 18:06 train to somewhere else. But, even though the first train still arrives at 17:59, the journey planner now recommends waiting for the next half-hourly train at 18:36. That makes the journey seem half an hour longer, which makes people less likely to use the train in the first place. If you actually do the journey, you get a pleasant surprise if you get there, realise there's another train leaving in a couple of minutes, and arrive 30 minutes earlier than you expected to.

      I wouldn't rely on making that close connection for a job interview, a wedding, or an unflexible flight. But I could easily rely on it for work, and I'd certainly take the risk for leisure trip.

    5. Re:Games airlines play by Quiet_Desperation · · Score: 5, Funny

      So, wait, when do the trains pass each other?

      Is this one extra credit?

  2. Bag Fees = Fewer Lost Bag by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Lost bags are down, not because the airlines are getting better (or the panty sniffers in TSA aren't stealing your junk) but because fewer people are checking bags because of stupidly high bag check fees.

  3. Bah! All lies... by doston · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Flown lately? It sucks. It sucks so much that if you manage to get from one place to another without a *major* fiasco, you keep your mouth shut. Just because expectations have been lowered to the basement, doesn't mean things are getting better. More like passengers are just feeling more powerless and complaining less. As for on-time arrivals and all that...wow nice. Probably not as difficult, since they've gutted most routes to bare minimum and use sophisticated software to keep planes packed like sardines. Sorry, but air travel sucks and no report of marginal statistical improvement will change anybody's view on that.

  4. Jet Blue == JFK, not on time... by neurocutie · · Score: 5, Informative

    Its obvious that JetBlue's poor on-time performance can be tied directly to its hub being JFK, in the busiest, most congestion airspace in the country. Comparing it to Hawaiian Air for on-time performance is kinda silly. Even airlines with Chicago as a major hub (e.g. American, United), can dilute those bad performances with flights from other of their hubs, but not JetBlue whose only hub is JFK.