Airline Delays

There is a lot of discussion on travel agent sites about all the problems with the airlines. This is because there are more travelers and less scheduled flights. In addition, the traffic control system is over stressed as well and the airlines are recording record levels of flight delays. In fact, since the government began collecting data about flights, this year’s numbers are the worst. Only 72.5% of flights have been on time up through April. Lost baggage complaints are also up. To avoid these problems as much as possible, travel early in the day and Tuesdays and Saturdays tend to have fewer delayed flights. Also, some airlines are more punctual than others. AirTran, JetBlue, Continental, US Airways, and Delta have the highest incidence of delays. SkyWest, Mesa, Hawaiian, Southwest, and Frontier have the least.