… American Airlines, according to a report released late today by FlightStats.
Less than two-thirds of its flights — 64.55 percent — were considered on-time. An eye-popping 16.20 percent of its flights were more than 44 minutes late.
Technically, American had the worst on-time record of the major airlines. But only four other airlines — regional carriers Colgan, Comair, Gulfstream International and Freedom Airlines — had more delays.
The absolute bottom was Freedom Airlines (maybe the wrong name, if you think about it) with only 54.52 percent of its flights leaving on time this summer.
The airline with the best record? Hawaiian Airlines, with 88.60 percent of its flights operating on time.
Surprisingly, it was followed by Frontier Airlines, which recorded an 85.34 percent on-time record for the summer.
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It so happens that last weekend I flew AA for the first time. I was very pleased. Despite what their website says, we were not charged for checked bags to and from Mexico. Furthermore, they did not charge us for getting me (6′8″) and my girl friend an exit seat (United considers that an “upgrade” and tries to charge you $50 to $75). The “weirdest” thing was that the staff was friendly.
All in all, just just felt like flying a couple of years ago.
One trip doesn’t make a good airline though.
Why do you say “surprisingly, it was followed by Fronter….”? Frontier has consistently been in the top five for several years.
My flights this summer were all on AA. Only 1 was late, most were early. In fact with 2 flights, I had my checked bags before my flights were even scheduled to land. The one that was late was due to thunderstorms at my home airport, a common problem in the spring and summer.
I’m not surprised at all that AA is so low on the list. Although I think in general the employees at AA are very professional and friendly, the planes need work. I flew weekly from Seattle to NY for 4 months. On three occasions the water pump was broken and we had to wait for nearly an hour while the mechanics tried to fix it. On the 3rd time I told the flight attendant the standard operating procedure for broken water pumps; put handi-wipes in the bathrooms, bring on extra bottled water, tell the passengers that there is no coffee and take off.
AA just isn’t as good at padding its flight schedule. US does a fantastic job of this. Doors don’t close for 20 minutes past the scheduled departure? No problem! ATC delays takeoff for 45 minutes? No problem! We’re still on time! :-(
I took 4 flights on American this summer. 2 had long delays due to mechanical problems with the plane.