The Cranky Ol' Bat

Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death! - RuPaul

2005-03-31

Every Now & Then, The Guvmint Does Something Useful....Really!

You're getting ready to take off, but you're wondering.....should I worry about checking my bags? What are my chances of getting bumped? Will the *%$#-ing flight arrive on time?

Believe it or not, for once, the government really is here to help you. The Department of Transportation keeps stats on how the different domestic carriers are doing. I was kind of amazed that Phoenix's so-called "Hometown Airline", America West, wasn't perched at the bottom like it has been for a long time.

(Editor's note....I haven't been happy with them since it took them literally 4+ months to refund my credit card $40 back when I was a newly minted college graduate trying to take advantage of a cheap airfare to an interview site. Discover didn't charge me interest, but it was damn annoying to see that charge come up month after month because America West refused to fill something out that Discover needed. It was ridiculous. I got 5 letters from America West telling me they were going to reverse it any day now before they finally did it. And don't get me started on how they've mishandled my friends' luggage. My favorite was when my friend went to get his bag, and only got the handle back.)

Looks like JetBlue is for you if you don't want to get bumped. Hawaiian will be the one to get you there on time with your bags. The airport with the best arrival and departure on-times is Houston's Bush Intercontinental.

If you're running late, hopefully your happy butt is on US Airways' Fort Lauderdale-Philadelphia Flight 435. On average, it's been 62 minutes late getting out of the gate, and it's late 93 percent of the time. But if you're flying Atlantic Southeast, it's possible they cancelled the flight (8% of the time...hit that snooze button). If they didn't cancel, they are the most likely to bump you off. They are the most likely to lose your bags, too.

Want to see how your favorite (or most hated) domestic carrier stacks up? Click here to see the latest report. It's available in either Adobe Acrobat or MS Word format.

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