Southwest Keeps 'Em Happy, but Its Late Flights Are Starting to Stack Up

(MoneyWatch)  The Department of Transportation has released the latest Air Travel Consumer Report and once again, Southwest (LUV) is sitting near the bottom when it comes to on-time performance. The airline is coasting on its reputation right now, but it needs to get its numbers up quickly before people start realizing that the reality of flying Southwest isn't living up to its image.

The latest numbers covered travel in the relatively benign weather month of November. Legacy airlines saw some very strong performances with United at 91.4 percent and US Airways (LCC) at 86 percent. But Southwest is once again anchored down below. The airline saw only 79.3 percent of flights arrive on time, which put it in 16th place out of 18 airlines. With the exception of Chicago/Midway, Southwest had a worse on-time percentage than average at all of the top 29 airports in the country.

You are free to wait around the country
On top of that, Southwest posted the only two flights to be delayed more than 50 percent of the time two straight months, and it had 6 that were delayed more than 70 percent of the time during November alone. That's double every other airline combined. It had a good cancellation rate of only 0.3 percent, but it only reached the middle of the pack in terms of losing luggage. It also sat in the middle of the pack in terms of the number of people it bumped involuntarily during the third quarter.

Look at US Airways in contrast. US Airways had great on time performance, saw no flights delayed more than 70 percent of the time, and canceled roughly the same percentage of flights as Southwest (0.4 percent). That airline came in second for lowest mishandled bag rate. (This, of course, doesn't include its regional providers, but my understanding is they've had good performance as well lately.)

And yet no one is complaining
If you looked at these together, you would think that consumers would be much happier with US Airways, but the airline received three times as many complaints -- adjusted for size -- as Southwest. (Admittedly, we're talking about relatively small numbers here.)

So how is it that Southwest has such few complaints? There are a few reasons but it all starts with branding.

Southwest has created one of the few true brands in the domestic airline industry. When people think Southwest, they think low fares, frequent reliable flights, and now they think no bag fees as well. This is a great brand to rest on, but there's only one problem. The airline isn't living it up to it.

Sure, there are frequent Southwest flights but the poor on-time performance means they're not as reliable as they need to be. While the airline does generally have low fares, I've found that they're rarely the lowest when booked in advance. And yes, while bags do fly free, if they don't fly with their owners then that's a problem.

Eating your brand equity
The Southwest brand is so strong that it can afford to fail to deliver some months. Its great customer response is good enough to placate the truly angry, and the rest just assume it's an anomaly. But this is now the second month of near-last place performance and these were during the months when the weather is best.

The airline that used to crow about winning the Triple Crown (best on time performance, lowest mishandled bag rate, and lowest complaint rate) is now only close to the complaint title. If it doesn't fix its operation, however, then that laurel may be out of reach as well.

Related:

• Southwest's Performance Problem: How to Fix Those Late Arrivals
• Southwest Learns the Dangers of Unbridled Enthusiasm With Its Frequent Flier Relaunch
• United Most On-Time for 2009? Count Us Skeptical

Photo via Flickr user randomduck/CC 2.0