DOT releases March airline performance report

The Aviation Consumer Protection division of the US Dept. of Transportation issued its March reports on compliance with consumer protection, including on-time performance, consumer complaints and mishandled baggage.

Hawaiian Airlines ranked highest in percentage of flights on-time, with 91% in March, down slightly from its percentage in the same month in 2012 with 92.5%. Virgin America ranked second with 87.3% March this year and 74.9% in March last year. The lowest reported on-time performance came from ExpressJet with 71.6% on-time, compared with 74.1 in March 2012.

Southwest Airlines received the fewest consumer complaints with 0.23 per 100,000 passengers in March 2013. This compares with a rate of 0.29 in March last year. Alaska had a rate of 0.24 in March; 0.32 in March 2012. The most consumer complaints were seen by Frontier Airlines with 2.78 per 100,000 passengers in March, compared with 0.97 in March 2012.

Virgin America had the best rate in mishandled baggage reports per 100,000 passengers with 0.83 in March 2013. Last year’s rate in March was 0.90. Frontier ranked second with 1.92 reports in March 2013; 2.05 in March 2012. The most reports were made against American Eagle with a rate of 5.15, compared with 5.95 in March 2012.

The DOT reports include AirTran, Alaska, American, American Eagle, Delta, ExpressJet, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Mesa, Pinnacle, Southwest, SkyWest, United, US Airways and Virgin America.

(Kathryn M. Young - ATWOnline News)