What airlines are doing well and not so well according to your fellow travelers? The Department of Transportation (DOT) “Air Traveler Consumer Report” for June 2024 is out and there are some definite positives overall.
However, there’s one airline that an airline watcher says needs to take a long look in the mirror when it comes to bumping passengers.
When it comes to on-time arrival, the Top three are Hawaiian Airlines – landing on schedule 83.6% of the time – Delta with an 78.6% on-time performance, and Alaska at 76.8% rate.
Bringing up the rear is Frontier with a 61.3% on-time arrival rate. Not sure what’s going on at American, but the DFW-based carrier was number two in February, but had fallen to number 7 in the latest report.
In the cancellation department, Southwest got the big trophy. It ranked first in the percentage of fewest cancellations with a 0.3% rate. Frontier, again, brought up the rear with a 3.5% rate.
For those of you who’ve lost bags on American, you’re not alone. American’s mishandled rate in June was 0.95%. On the flip side, travelers who’ve flown Allegiant recently have something to crow about. Allegiant has the fewest number of lost bag complaints at 0.17%.
If you don’t like hearing the phrase, “Sorry, you’re not getting on this flight,” then the DOT report suggests you should avoid Frontier, Spirit, and American. While Allegiant and Delta had a wonderful zero in the passengers denied boarding category, Frontier denied 3.43 passengers a seat per 10,000 enplaned; American 0.7 and Spirit 0.62.
“It seems notable as well that while Delta involuntarily denied boarding [bumped] to only one passenger in the first six months of the year, American Airlines involuntarily bumped 6,832,” wrote ViewFromTheWing’s Gary Leff. “That’s more than all other U.S. airlines combined.”
