AP Features, February 9th, 2007
The nation's air travelers in 2006 faced more late arrivals and more lost luggage than the year before _ yet they complained less often, federal statistics show.
The Bureau of Transportation Statistics, a division of the Transportation Department, released data that showed 75 percent of flights last year arrived on time among the 20 airlines that filed performance reports with the government. That was a decline from an on-time rate of 77 percent in 2005.
Airline passengers also were more likely to go home without their bags, as airlines received more than 6.7 reports of lost, stolen or damaged baggage for every 1,000 passengers, up from about 6.6 per 1,000 in 2005. That statistic has risen steadily since 2002.
However, passengers filed fewer complaints. The government recording more than 8,300 consumer complaints in 2006, down from more than 8,700 the year before.
Hawaiian Airlines and JetBlue Airways Corp. had the lowest rates of mishandled baggage last year, while AMR Corp.'s American Eagle Airlines and SkyWest Inc.'s Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the highest rates.
For the year, the report found that the Hawaiian and Frontier Airlines had the highest on-time rates, while the lowest were recorded by Atlantic Southeast and ATA Airlines. In December, 71 percent of airline flights were on time, the report said.
Shares of AMR fell 21 cents to $38.51 in afternoon trading Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of JetBlue fell 35 cents to $13.34, shares of SkyWest rose 26 cents to $27.10 and shares of Frontier fell 16 cents to $7.23, all in afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.
