What's the book corporate America doesn't want you to read? Find out now -- or you could get scammed.

Christmas air travel warning: avoid Minneapolis, JetBlue and Northwest Flight 189

December 2, 2008

If you’re making air travel plans for the Christmas holiday, you’ll want to check out these numbers from a new site called Airport Butler. A review of last year’s on-time data by the airline statistics company suggests you might want to avoid flying on JetBlue, Northwest or going anywhere near the Minneapolis airport.

These are delays by origin airport for Dec. 23-25, 2007. Minneapolis, Chicago and New York top the list. No big surprises here – except maybe sunny Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

How about the most delayed airlines?

For all of you non-airline folks reading this, B6 is JetBlue and 9E is Northwest Airlink. In fact, most of these obscure airline codes belong to regional airlines. Lesson? Stay off the small planes if you can.

Let’s dig down into the data a little. Which flights were the most delayed?

Six of the top 10 flights belong to either Northwest or one of Northwest’s regional carriers.

Now, bear in mind that these are last year’s statistics. We have no way of knowing if history will repeat itself. This is just a useful look at past performance.

Feel free to take this data into account – or not – when you’re making your Christmas travel plans.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

Tagged as: , , ,

10 comments

  • http://www.travelingmamas.com Kara/MountainMama

    Interesting! I flew JetBlue for Thanksgiving (granted on lesser-traveled days: the Sat. before and Friday after) and we left on time each time (DEN-JFK). My kids LOVED the individual TV sets. Seriously, if I had to choose between two similarly priced flights, I’d pick the TV sets and the “choice of snacks onboard” offered by JetBlue each time.

  • Richard

    I was pretty much planning to avoid Northworst anyway! The only way to get me on one of their flights would involve a bag over my head and handcuffs.

  • http://www.jaunted.com Ellen

    I flew into Minneapolis last year on the 23rd, although only because our plane (on Midwest) couldn’t land in Milwaukee and thus got diverted first to St. Louis and then MSP. We were so relieved just to land anywhere that it didn’t seem too bad at the time (that was before the 8-hour bus ride to General Mitchell), but I’m not anxious to see the place again.

  • Victor

    My holiday travel secret: fly on Christmas day. It’s not such a bah-humbuggy proposition. By mid-afternoon, once the presents are opened and eggnog is glugged, you’re ready to get moving anyway. I’ve never head a major delay flying on Christmas day (knocking wood).

  • Jim J

    I wonder if Northworst’s on-time problems have something to do with the fact they are operating ancient aircraft which are prone to more mechanical difficulties? I try to avoid NW whenever possible so it has been about two years since I flew with them. That was a round trip between Tampa and Detroit. Both aircraft were DC9-32′s that were probably manufactured in the early 1970′s. Northwest should not expect 35 year old aircraft to be available for service as often as newer aircraft flown by their competitors.

  • Joe Farrell

    It was no picnic on USAir on a December Friday with clear weather across the country today, either.

    Instead of spending $450 to fly myself I dropped $200 on a USAir ticket to CHS. I have no idea whats going on in CLT but the controllers appear borderline incompetent. I was #7 in a conga line for departure and it took 30 minutes to get to the #1 slot AND there were only 2 landings.

    I saw a jet depart, then I saw a another one on 5 mile final. Did the controller clear another departure? Nope- he waited the whole 3 minutes for the plane to land. That is insane. If that happened in NYC the fellow controllers would be making fun of him or her.

    Then there were the mechanical problems. Sure – you want them to fix them = but where I sat in the very nether regions of Terminal E at CLT [after of course connecting on a late inbound from the furthest reaches of Terminal B] there were FIVE mechanical delays – ALL on the SAME type aircraft and ALL for the SAME problem = the air paks were not blowing cold air, that was a little unusual.

    Thankfully I was able to change to a different ‘later’ flight that actually ended up leaving earlier but that was because I got ‘protected’ on the new flight when I FIRST heard the gate agent announce a mechanical. Keep that in mind, but, given the holidays, as they approach there will be ever fewer seats available on later flights. I spoke with a neighbor today whose daughter misconnected in ATL SUN due to all the bad weather trying to get to DCA. A distance of about 450nm. It took her two DAYS to get home. some of the blame clearly rested with Delta because they kept telling people they’d gotten them seats on the ‘next flight’ which always ended up overbooked.

    I would LOVE to find a site that displays a flights booked seats, capacity, average no-show by day and who has actually checked-in for a flight [by gross number, not specific identify]. At least then a passenger could make a intelligent decision when to live and let live and when to hammer the airline for another choice. I’ve asked the gate agents nicely for this information and its hit or miss if you get it,

  • Jess K.

    Uhm. Reading the statistics more closely, UA, 9E, MQ, and F9 are all lower than 6E (JetBlue)’s average on-time status. So if 9E is Northwest, what are the other callsigns? I’d be interested to know, because if they’re other airlines (UA == United?)… maybe those ought to be avoided as *well* as JetBlue and Northwest and should be put in your subject head as well ;)

    I’ve had four JetBlue flights in the last two weeks, and only one of them was delayed any amount of time (by an hour, and it was the final evening flight, which had accumulated little delays throughout the day, apparently). I really love flying them and honestly, don’t feel like going anywhere else. Being a little bit delayed isn’t going to change the consistency of more comfortable flights (space, seats, entertainment, snacks, all of it) and customer-friendly employees…

    And no, I don’t work for them – just am a happy customer who got tired of USAir, AirTran, Delta, American and United losing my bags, having cramped seating, piling on the fees, and having consistently cranky employees… if Southwest were nearby (I live near BOS, and Southwest only flies out of PVD and MHT) I’d probably use them more, but it’s JetBlue for convenience and comfort every time!

  • http://www.webhostinggeeks.com Aryz

    Thanks so much for the information. I hope travelling would be more efficient than before. Statistics always say a lot about how the flights really happen so again thanks.

  • http://www.webhostinggeeks.com/ ruthdabu

    I guess this is a big help to travelers, thanks! You get to help lots of people by reminding us to always take precautionary measures every time we travel.

  • Pingback: Hello AirportButler | Innovation Analysis Group

Previous post:

Next post: