America's Most Reliable Airlines

[UpstateCruizer]

I saw this report on AOL's headlines so I went directly to Forbes dot come to get the entire link to share here http://www.forbes.com/travel/2008/09/30/airlines-reliable-ten-forbeslife-cx_rr_0930travel.html.

 

I wasn't surprise to see where Southwest ranked on this :)

[SelectSys]

Not really, nor the fact that UA and US are at the bottom of the list. CO as #2 overall and #1 network carrier isn't a surprise either.

[paul929207]

I am glad to see CO is near the top. We have flown them a number of times this year and been happy with all the flights.

[hdawson]

Here are the 2008 domestic airline quality service rankings that are done every year by the University of Nebraska under contract with the DOT (Ithink) and based on FAA and DOT information. You can also google previous year's reports which indicate the LCC's dominate the service rankings all of the recent years.

 

http://www.tripspot.com/listairlinequality.htm

 

Another article: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/business_tourism_aviation/2008/04/airtran-earns-f.html

[scottbee]

Unfortunately these comparisons are not always comparing apples to apples. Take into consideration Alaska Air. I'd wager that their 'on time' performance is somewhat more affected by poor weather in Alaska, and the fact that almost all of the airports have fewer navaids and higher minimums than airports in the lower 48. Example JNU has a DH (decision height, the point at which you must decide to land or execute a go around) of closer to 2000ft versus a more typical 300ft in the lower 48.

[SelectSys]

Unfortunately these comparisons are not always comparing apples to apples. Take into consideration Alaska Air. I'd wager that their 'on time' performance is somewhat more affected by poor weather in Alaska, and the fact that almost all of the airports have fewer navaids and higher minimums than airports in the lower 48. Example JNU has a DH (decision height, the point at which you must decide to land or execute a go around) of closer to 2000ft versus a more typical 300ft in the lower 48.

 

AS tends to get ranked fairly high on most surveys. Look for the ontime rankings and to go up significantly as the new runway at SEA (their #1 hub) goes into operation.

 

From a local Seatle newspaper:

 

"Alaska, which also owns Horizon Air, accounts for over 40 percent of takeoffs and landings at Sea-Tac.

 

The test plane was Alaska's newest 737-800, having been delivered a week before the landings.

 

The runway is principally designed to avoid weather delays by allowing two airplanes to land on separate runways during times of low-visibility, according to Port spokesman Perry Cooper. He said those weather conditions occur up to 44 percent of the time at Sea-Tac.

 

Cooper said the additional runway could trim landing delays from 90 minutes down to 15 minutes, which is considered within on time arrival parameters."

 

http://www.highlinetimes.com/articles/2008/09/29/news/local_news/news01.txt

[G'ma]

Unfortunately these comparisons are not always comparing apples to apples. Take into consideration Alaska Air. I'd wager that their 'on time' performance is somewhat more affected by poor weather in Alaska, and the fact that almost all of the airports have fewer navaids and higher minimums than airports in the lower 48. Example JNU has a DH (decision height, the point at which you must decide to land or execute a go around) of closer to 2000ft versus a more typical 300ft in the lower 48.

 

The airlines set their own times schedules that are posted. One would assume that Alaska - and others - would take all things into consideration before posting their schedules to the FAA and others.

[Shorex]

The airlines set their own times schedules that are posted. One would assume that Alaska - and others - would take all things into consideration before posting their schedules to the FAA and others.

 

Yes, I'm sure they do take all things into consideration when posting schedules from Barrow and Prudhoe Bay, both north of the Arctic Circle and both served throughout the winter months; not to mention Adak and Dutch Harbor out in the Aleutians. (Ever watch "The Deadliest Catch"?) We've had stops on AS at the small towns of Cordova and Yakatat on the way to Anchorage on the Combi that carries freight. The passenger rows begin at row 16 to accommodate the freight in front. AS is a lifeline to these towns, all year round.

 

All in all, when flying in Alaska I'd rather the pilots take into account the weather and the limited navaids in preference to caring about the on-time stats.

[TwinCruiserMom]

We have always been very happy with Airtran and in the article it says that they are the top for baggage handling. That is a biggie with me before a cruise as I do not want to wear what is in my carry on for a week ;)

 

Thanks for the link to the article.

[Globaliser]

The airlines set their own times schedules that are posted. One would assume that Alaska - and others - would take all things into consideration before posting their schedules to the FAA and others.

AS is not going to pad its schedules by 90 minutes to take into account the times when there is holding for that long.

 

Every airline in the world that has a disproportionate number of flights going into bad weather airports, or severely congested airports, inevitably suffers in the statistics because of the random and unpredictable nature and duration of the delays that result. The point made by scottbee is absolutely spot on.

[ptcruzers]

so I'm guessing that with the bagging handling gaffes that have occurred we now have to PAY for them to mishandle/lose our luggage!!:confused: