The U.S. Department of Transportation released its latest Air Travel Consumer Report (PDF) on Monday, including year-end figures for on-time performance, mishandled baggage and consumer complaints. While many in the blogosphere and on the internet message boards have been busily stewing in their own resentful juices, it seems things got better for travelers without us even noticing.
On-time Performance:
Overall, on-time performance improved from 73.4 percent to 76.0 percent. Not bad. But check this out:
US Airways: In 2007, US Airways was 18th place with an on-time arrival percentage of just 68.7 percent. In 2008, US Airways shot up to 3rd-best, arriving on schedule 80.1 percent of the time. The airline was bested only by Hawaiian and Southwest. Impressive.
Atlantic Southeast: This Delta Connection carrier was dead last among ranked carriers in 2007 with only 64.7 percent of its arrivals getting there on schedule. In 2008, the carrier improved to 11th place with a rate of 74.2 percent.
Mishandled Baggage:
Incidents of lost luggage decreased by 25 percent year-over-year. The rankings of individual airlines didn’t really change that much, but what drove the decrease was the improvement by the airlines at the bottom of the heap — and all of them are regional airlines.
The worst performers (with the best improvement rates, if that makes sense) were:
American Eagle – down 27 percent
Atlantic Southeast (AKA Delta Connection) – down 13 percent
Comair (AKA Delta Connection) – down 27 percent
Mesa (AKA US Airways Express, United Express, Delta Connection, Mesa) – down 25 percent
Skywest (AKA Delta Connection, United Express) – down 30 percent
Pinnacle (AKA Northwest Airlink) – down 21 percent
ExpressJet (AKA Continental Connection) – down 25 percent
I have to say, I worked for a regional airline for part of my two decades in the airline industry; these folks work really hard and always get a bum rap. It would take me way too long to explain the complexities of handing off luggage between two operating groups at two separate airlines (despite the fact that the airplanes are painted in the same livery), so I won’t. It’s been my experience that regional airline employees often work harder, for much less money, than many of their counterparts at the larger mainline carriers.
Consumer Complaints:
Overall, the rate of complaints about airline service to the Transportation Department decreased by 18 percent year-over-year. Like problems with lost luggage, the ranking of individual airlines ostensibly didn’t move that much. Most airlines – not all – just got better. Some, like Southwest and Delta, only saw an improvement of 1/100th of a point, but it was an improvement nevertheless. (And in the case of Southwest, they, of course, stayed in their usual lock on first place.) Some other airlines made great progress:
– Northwest’s complaint rate decreased 40 percent.
– Although they were still at the bottom of the rankings, US Airways’ rate improved 36 percent.
– United, also a long-term tenant in the cellar with US Airways, saw its rate improve by 18 percent.
I’ve been following DOT data for more than a decade now, and it’s been my experience that this stuff is like Whack-a-Mole. An executive at Airline XYZ decides that closing the door to the airplane five minutes early will solve the on-time problem. But he forgets it will make everyone angry. Then, when complaints are through the roof, another executive decides they’re going to focus on service and on-time goes to the dogs.
It’ll be interesting to see what those pesky moles have in store for us in 2009. Stay tuned.
