Slightly More On-Time Arrivals In May
Domestic airlines improved their on-time arrival rates in May, although more than one in five flights still failed to get passengers to their destination as scheduled, according to government data released Monday.
A total of 21 percent of commercial flights in the U.S. arrived at least 15 minutes late, were canceled or diverted in May, according to the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
That is down from more than 22 percent of late flights in the same month last year and in April of this year. The previous month's figure was higher in part because AMR Corp.'s American, the nation's largest carrier, was forced to ground thousands of flights amid tighter government scrutiny of maintenance issues.
The latest government figures show American again had the most delays, getting passengers to their destinations as scheduled only 67.3 percent of the time. It was followed by UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, the second-largest carrier, which reported 72.4 percent of on-time arrivals, and Continental Airlines Inc., with 75.4 percent.
Weather was by far the biggest cause of late flights in May, accounting for just over 44 percent of all delays. Only about 39 percent of flights were late because of weather a year earlier.
U.S. carriers also improved their baggage handling in May. About 4.6 passengers out of every 1,000 reported a mishandled bag during the month, compared with nearly 6 per 1,000 a year earlier and 5 per 1,000 in April.
Reported passenger complaints fell to 885, compared with 930 a year earlier and 1,113 in April.
The U.S. airline industry is straining under record-high fuel prices, which have prompted many carriers to raise fares, announce sweeping flight cutbacks and begin charging for amenities such as checked bags and extra legroom.
Oil prices fell sharply Monday but nonetheless remain within range of last week's all-time highs. Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $4.54 to $140.75 by midday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. A total of 21 percent of commercial flights in the U.S. arrived at least 15 minutes late, were canceled or diverted in May, according to the Transportation Department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.
That is down from more than 22 percent of late flights in the same month last year and in April of this year. The previous month's figure was higher in part because AMR Corp.'s American, the nation's largest carrier, was forced to ground thousands of flights amid tighter government scrutiny of maintenance issues.
The latest government figures show American again had the most delays, getting passengers to their destinations as scheduled only 67.3 percent of the time. It was followed by UAL Corp.'s United Airlines, the second-largest carrier, which reported 72.4 percent of on-time arrivals, and Continental Airlines Inc., with 75.4 percent.
Weather was by far the biggest cause of late flights in May, accounting for just over 44 percent of all delays. Only about 39 percent of flights were late because of weather a year earlier.
U.S. carriers also improved their baggage handling in May. About 4.6 passengers out of every 1,000 reported a mishandled bag during the month, compared with nearly 6 per 1,000 a year earlier and 5 per 1,000 in April.
Reported passenger complaints fell to 885, compared with 930 a year earlier and 1,113 in April.
The U.S. airline industry is straining under record-high fuel prices, which have prompted many carriers to raise fares, announce sweeping flight cutbacks and begin charging for amenities such as checked bags and extra legroom.
Oil prices fell sharply Monday but nonetheless remain within range of last week's all-time highs. Light, sweet crude for August delivery fell $4.54 to $140.75 by midday on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
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While the democrats and fake republicans refuse to fix our energy problems we can look forward to the elitists living lavishly, driving around in their fuel guzzling jets and cars. Burning enough electricity to power 10 middle class homes. Everyday eating Caviar, King crab and Lobster, coupled with the finest champagne, wine and liquor, while the little people (you and me) funds it. While the rest of us are going to be told to use mass transit, and have our homes limited to how much energy we can use.
I would love to see them all hung upside down as an endless mob throws rotten tomatoes at them.
Vote them all out!
And F.... Obama..
The problem is mostly that airlines don''t plan for bad weather any time of the year, and that is not part of a responsible business plan.
Our airlines suck slightly less!
Woo-hoo!
This is CBS trying to find something, anything good to say about the economy.