Airlines show timeliness, baggage improvements
(AP) NEW YORK - U.S. airlines are more punctual and less likely to lose your bag than at any time in more than two decades.
Nearly 84 percent of domestic flights arrived within 15 minutes of their schedule time in the first half of the year — the best performance since the government started tracking such data in 1988.
The improvement over the first six months of 2011 is mostly the result of good weather and fewer planes in the sky because of weak demand. And there's a side benefit: Fewer than three suitcases per 1,000 passengers were reported lost, damaged or delayed in the first half of the year, a record low.
These trends aren't just good for passengers. Airlines will benefit too. Delays cost the industry more than $5 billion last year.
Below is a list of what percent of flights at some of the nation's largest airports arrived on-time in the first six months of 2012:
1: Salt Lake City 89.72
2: Charlotte, N.C. 87.54
3: Minneapolis/St. Paul 87.14
4: Phoenix 86.85
5: Las Vegas 86.67
6: Chicago Midway 86.16
7: Baltimore 86.14
8: Atlanta 85.91
9: Detroit 85.73
10: Portland, Ore. 85.37
11: Tampa, Fla. 85.35
12: Seattle 85.10
13: Orlando, Fla. 84.92
14: San Diego 84.70
15: Denver 84.52
16: New York JFK 84.35
17: Dallas/Fort Worth 84.23
18: Miami 84.21
19: Los Angeles 83.70
20: Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 83.59
21: Washington National 83.18
22: Philadelphia 82.73
23: Boston 82.56
24: Chicago O'Hare 81.91
25: Washington Dulles 81.02
26: New York, LaGuardia 80.32
27: Houston 79.70
28: San Francisco 73.35
29: Newark, N.J. 70.61
On the following page, find out which airlines did the best with on-time performance and luggage.
Below is a list of how many bags per 1,000 passengers each airline lost, delayed or damaged in the first six months of 2012:
1: Virgin America 0.88
2: AirTran Airways 1.43
3: JetBlue Airways 1.79
4: US Airways 2.10
5: Delta Air Lines 2.11
6: Frontier Airlines 2.12
7: Hawaiian Airlines 2.73
8: Alaska Airlines 2.76
9: American Airlines 2.77
10: Southwest Airlines 2.89
11: United Airlines 3.75
12: Mesa Airlines 4.49
13: SkyWest Airlines 4.84
14: ExpressJet Airlines 5.48
15: American Eagle Airlines 5.52
Below is a list of what percent of each airline's flights arrived on-time in the first six months of 2012:
1: Hawaiian 93.35
2: AirTran 89.65
3: Alaska 87.47
4: Delta 87.41
5: US Airways 87.29
6: Mesa 86.73
7: Southwest 85.37
8: Virgin America 83.96
9: SkyWest 82.98
10: American Eagle 82.91
11: JetBlue 82.11
12: American 81.79
13: United 78.61
14: Frontier 78.30
15: ExpressJet 78.27