Things in the Sky

The latest edition of the Air Travel Consumer Report has been out for awhile, and I’m finally getting the chance to look at it.

This report contained the ontime performance of airlines for September, and it increased a few points compared to the same month last year (81.7% of flights ontime compared to 84.9%). Now, could this be due to the capacity cuts? Page 21 of the report talks about cancellations, but also lists the total number of flight operations. September 2007 saw 600,817 operations, and September 2008 had 540,908 – a 9.9% decrease. So, I think one could say it is certainly possible.

Mishandled bag reports were also down 5.36 per 1,000 passengers last year versus 3.86 per 1,000 passengers this year. As I discussed back in October, there is a good chance this decrease is due to the increase in baggage fees accross the industry.

Complaints were also down for the inudstry – down to 0.99 complaints per 100,000 passengers from 1.17 in September 2007.