Must-Read: DOT's Air Travel Report

Every month, like clockwork, the media starts regurgitating on-time information, lost bags, complaints, and more. All this data comes from the Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report, and while the summaries are nice, there's a lot more information that can be gleaned from actually cracking open the report yourself.

Airlines have access to some pretty detailed data on their own operations but they likely don't have much for other airlines, and that's where this DOT data can be most interesting. At the very least, it's worth a look each month, even though it's delivered with a one month delay.

Get beyond the summary data and dig into the details to get the biggest benefit. First up is on-time percentage by airline for each of the top 32 airports. What can you do with this? Well, cities where your competitors may be performing poorly but you aren't may be great marketing targets to get frequent fliers to consider switching. Sure, it's going to be hard to get frequent fliers in Denver to leave United for, say, American, but it might be an easier sell in Vegas or Tampa.

And what if results are reversed? What if you're performing poorly but the competitors isn't, I'd get some ops guys to dig in and figure out what's going on. I might also think about doing some frequent flier outreach to keep the locals happy.

Unfortunately, those details are only available for the top 32 airports, but there is a list of on-time information for all airlines at every other US airport. Compare your internal on-time stats to the airports' stats to see where you're falling short. You can also sift through oversale information, lost bags, and consumer complaints to find where your competitors are struggling and where you might be able to take advantage of the situation.