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Bryan Correira
Hawaiian Airlines not only shuttles people to sun-soaked islands, but it does so with an impressive on-time performance rate of 92.7 percent.
If you gear up for a delay each time you fly, you’re savvy indeed. Flight delays have become so common that more than 20 percent of all flights in the U.S. run late year after year. So the savviest travelers leave equipped with fully charged and programmed e-readers, snacks and the patience to weather possible delays.
But some airlines are more time-sensitive than others, and it matters because a delay is more than a nuisance — it can ruin a trip, especially around the holidays. Travel + Leisure’s annual air-travel report is based on data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which monitors the percentage of on-time arrivals for 18 major U.S. airlines. We crunched the data from the 12-month period ending in June 2011 to determine the airlines with the best and worst records.
Slideshow: Click here to see the full list
The overall percentage of flights arriving on time was 78.6 percent — that’s worse than 2010, when 79.7 percent of all flights were on time. But it’s still better than the 76.1 percent of 2009. And Hawaiian Airlines — the top-ranked carrier for the past three years — just keeps getting better, with a record-breaking on-time arrival report.
But there were some big shifts in this year’s numbers. JetBlue, the favorite carrier of many travelers, plummeted in the ratings to capture the lowest ranking (No. 18). AirTran Airways, meanwhile, radically improved its on-time performance and vaulted into our top five. United held its steady ground high up in the rankings, impressive for a carrier of its size.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics keeps track of the myriad reasons for these delays, the most common being bad weather, delayed connecting flights, air-traffic-control problems, and aircraft maintenance issues. Sometimes there isn’t much an airline — or travelers — can do to avoid a delay, and that sense of helplessness is a part of the frustration.
One proactive strategy is to give yourself an extra hour or two to catch a connecting flight. After all, it’s easier to calmly wait around an airport for your scheduled flight than to miss a connection and then scramble with the airline and hordes of fellow passengers to rebook on the next flight.
Another strategy is to book your ticket with an airline that has a proven on-time track record.
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Leave a Comment:
What has happened to journalism? Where is the list in this article? If you're going
to write about it maybe you should include it! This was a total waste of my
time.
I concur. The headline lies about what's contained in the article.
This website just keeps getting worse.
MSNBC - how bad will you get??
Well guys, Chris Matthews at MSNBC was compiling the list...when suddenly Obama walked in to his office. The thrill that Chris's got up leg was so strong, that he forgot all about the list.....damn!
Geeez, how bush league can you get??!
I thought is was just me! I kept looking for the list...;But?
I totally agree, I will not spend my time 'clicking' on each number, esp. when the internet is slow.
There is a hot link right there in the article that takes you to the info....Maybe it wasn't there when you first view the article??
George-1488037- This is what happens when you get lazy news companies. The problem isn't with the quality of the journalism. If you open this article on the Travel + Leisure web site, the original source of the article, you get a slide show that shows the airlines. The problem is that MSNBC only takes the text and ignores the images. The result is that the displayed T+L articles are never complete. You can find the slideshow at www.travelandleisure.com/articles/best-and-worst-airlines-for-delays
For those who don't want to view the slideshow from best to worst the airlines are
1-Hawaiian,2- Alaska, 3-United, 4-AirTran,5- Mesa, 6-US Airways, 7-Pinnacle, 8-Frontier, 9-Continental, 10-American, 11-SkyWest, 12-Delta, 13-Southwest, 14-ExpressJet, 15-American Eagle, 16-Atlantic Southeast, 17-Comair, 18-JetBlue
Thank you for the list...but there is no slideshow to view...
If you read my first comment, immediately above this one, you will see the URL to link to the original Travel + Leisure website which has the slideshow.
Thank you Anna Lee for doing MSNBC's job for them. I'd send the bozos a bill for your services!
I was shocked to see US Air even on the list! I have been left at airports for 24 hours, with no offer for s---t! I do not fly this airline anymore!! I am not talking bad weather. A few years ago my flight was delayed from Atlanta, GA to Houston, Texas 8 times! For no other reason other then the plane wasn't full. I missed a day of my conference, it cost me a night in hotel charges, {and they cancelled my room so I didn't have a place to stay when I finally did get there, I lost my rental car and still had to pay for one day and the best part... my bag was destroyed and I lost most of my clothes ...somewhere...maybe over the rainbbow! US AIR, I hope you read this because I would not fly with your airline if I needed to get home for a dying relative! WHy? Because they would be already dead, buried and decomposing by the time I got there!!
So, the list provided might not be accurate......
Hawaiian gets 92.7 because they don't fly where the bad weathers are Duh! Yup totally waste of time.
exactly
Yup, easy to get on top when you fly between islands where weather is almost never a factor and flights are under 1 hour. They need to take Hawaiian out ouf these ratings.
OK - we know Hawaiian does well because of minimal weather problems. What does that say about Alaska Airlines being #2 when they hub in Seattle and serve destinations, such as Juneau, which have many weather issues?
Maybe half of the time we can credit good weather, but what about the rest of the destinations that we fly huh?? Seattle and Portland rain....Sacrament, SFO & OAK dense fog.....LAS hot tarmac....we do get our share of near miss hurricanes, but it somehow never seems to make the national news....can't help that we live in a beautiful place....and we certainly have to pay for it too!! You can come too if you like :)
the airlines must be paying. This list doesn't even make any sense. Continental didn't exist last year. United sucked them up. And United is horrible. If the tiniest thing happens they cancel the flight. And they've been that way for years.
Comparing Hawaiian Airlines, which in your opinion has an "impressive" on time ranking, to the others is UNFAIR. You'd have an impressive record to if Hawaii was where you flew to on all of your routes. What a joke!
There is a slideshow if you read my first comment and follow the link to the Travel + Leisure website
Hawaiian flies to Fiji & Japan & Korea & Manila & Sydney & Portland & Seattle & Sacramento etc etc etc. All of which can have terrible weather. They just seem to do it on time.
I love flying but with the delays, hassle of going through security, checking in, etc I'd rather drive if I can. Someone else can have my seat.
So why did you read this article? Are you that bored? Maybe you should take a trip somewhere....
I'd like to see you drive to Hawaii.
Good one!!
Flew US Airways, connecting with Mesa in Phoenix for the first time since merging with America West last week. Arrival and departure on time, even got in 20 minutes early on the short Mesa flight. Found it humorous thou, for the first time ever, never got a bag of peanuts or pretzels with my beverage. At least I got the beverage. Overall. in spite of complaints about US Air from others, I was a very satisfied flyer.
The sad thing is this article will get tons of hits just because of the title so MSNBC will probably think it's a great article, give this guy a bonus, and tell all the other writers to do more like this! Half their articles are simply cut & paste from new feeds with some rearranging. They rarely give you the info you want to know - if a guy jumps off a building they give you the time, how high, approx location, but they never try to figure out why he did it. Did he just get fired, did his wife file divorce papers, - who cares. Just slap on a good title so you get enough hits to sell some ads! If you want semi-better journalism, BBC still does a little better, but I've seen them slacking off a bit too.
what a bunch of whiny women here. my god, you'd think it's 9/11 all over again.
Found the answer on Fox
Carrier On-Time Arrival Pct.
come on life is to short to get worked up over something as dumb as your plane is late and that you have no control over. just sit in the lounge and talk to the guy or gal next to you might meet a new lifetime friend you would have never met if your plane had been on time. if you aint in the ground it is a good day
As an employee of Hawaiian Airlines for 25 years, I can speak on behalf of all of us here that we've worked very hard to get our brand out there. We have something very special in our islands known as the Aloha Spirit...it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that all you have to do is be nice to people. I am indeed Proud to be Hawaiian!
With ticket prices so high these days, it DOES matter if u are "a few hours" late......plus sometimes the pretzels are stale :-D
Either get a pilot's license, and fly yourself, get some extra money to charter a plane yourself, get a train ticket, if that is an option, buy a bus ticket, if lower, and slower means are your choice, drive yourself is always an option, (providing not traveling overseas,) and if the latter, get a boat ticket.
Folks, those are the choices. One other choice, do NOT use anything that has given you bad service.