From Terrible to Mediocre – Airlines Improve On-Time Record

by Michael

Apparently, 78% of flights on the leading airlines arrived “on time” in July – up 3% from June, with Hawaiian, Delta and Alaska topping the charts, and Spirit and Frontier bringing up the rear.  78% seems pretty high, since you constantly hear about people complaining about flight delays, missed connections, etc.

Of course, the big asterisk here is that the Department of Transportation counts a flight as on time if it arrives within 14 minutes of schedule. A further asterisk is that “arrival” counts as when the plane docks up to the jet way, not when you get off.  On a bigger plane, you could actually be getting off the plane 25 minutes or more after the “scheduled” time, and the flight would still be considered “on time”!  The 78% figure seem a little more reasonable now that we know the flawed methodology. But hey, at least it is improved, and going from terrible to mediocre is still a step in the right direction.

You can read the Fox News article here.

Do you believe these figures?  Based on your experience, what would you have guessed the on-time percentage to be?

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