Airlines: The Best and the Worst

The US Department of Transportation releases an annual Air Travel Consumer Report listing the best and worst airlines in terms of passenger complaints and performance records. Here's what I find the most interesting part of the 2007 list. In fairness, airlines' on-time records are sometimes a function ot the weather and traffic at airports they serve, but there really isn't much of an excuse to be made for chronically mishandled luggage or zealous overbooking that results in excessive involuntary bumping:

Lost or otherwise mishandled luggage (per 1,000 passengers)

The Top Five

1. Hawaiian Airlines, 3.41
2. Aloha Airlines, 3.88
3. AirTran Airways, 4.06
4. Northwest Airlines, 5.01
5. JetBlue Airways, 5.23

The Bottom Five

1. Mesa Airlines, 10.46
2. Skywest, 10.87
3. Atlantic Southeast, 11.24
4. Comair, 11.40
5. American Eagle, 13.55

Passengers involuntarily bumped or denied boarding (per 10,000 passengers)

The Top Five

1. JetBlue Airways, .02
2. AirTran Airways, .15
3. Hawaiian Airlines, .17
4. Aloha, .29
5. United, .71

The Bottom Five

1. Mesa Airlines, 1.54
2. Skywest, 1.69
3. Delta Air Lines, 2.47
4. Comair, 3.15
5. Atlantic Southeast, 4.50

On-time performance (measured in percentage of flights)

The Top Five

1. Hawaiian, 93.3%
2. Aloha, 92.2
3. Southwest, 80.1
4. Frontier, 77.6
5. Delta, 76.9

The Bottom Five

1. American Eagle, 69.1%
2. American, 68.7
3. US Airways, 68.7
4. Comair, 67.9
5. Atlantic Southeast, 64.7