NEW YORK — Fliers rejoice: U.S. airlines are more punctual and less likely to lose your bag than at any time in more than two decades.
Travelers still have to put up with packed planes, rising fees and unpredictable security lines, but they are late to fewer business meetings and missing fewer chances to tuck their kids into bed.
Nearly 84 percent of domestic flights arrived within 15 minutes of their schedule time in the first half of the year – the best performance since the government started tracking such data in 1988.
The improvement over the first six months of 2011, when 77 percent of flights were on time, is mostly the result of good weather and fewer planes in the sky because of weak demand.
In the most recent statistics among North American airports, Sea-Tac’s on-time departure record, 85.5 percent, ranked it third among major airports.
Portland topped the list with 87.12 percent of its flights leaving on time, and Salt Lake City was second with 87.07 percent of its flights departing on time.
Airlines also are doing a better job of handling bags. Fewer than three suitcases per 1,000 passengers were reported lost, damaged or delayed from January through June, a record low.
The two areas of improvement are related: when flights are late, bags often miss their connection.
If the current pace continues, airlines will beat their best full-year performance in 1991, when nearly 83 percent of flights arrived on time. The worst full year was 2000, when just 73 percent of flights arrived on time.
The worst year for baggage handling was 1989, when nearly 8 suitcases per 1,000 passengers were reported late, lost or damaged.
There are still problems. About one out of every six flights is late – and that’s after airlines have adjusted schedules to account for congestion, said airline consultant Michael Boyd.
“That’s an indictment, not a record,” he says.
When flights are on time, it isn’t just good for passengers – it also helps the airlines’ bottom lines. The industry says it costs an average of $75 a minute to operate a plane. Last year, domestic delays cost airlines an estimated $5.2 billion.
In the first six months of this year, Mother Nature has been kind to airlines. There have been 10 percent fewer thunderstorms than usual, according to a decade of data analyzed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Aviation Weather Center. There also was less snow earlier in the year.
The recession led fewer people to fly and prompted airlines to ground planes, clearing up the airspace.
In 2007, 14.8 million airplanes took off and landed at the nation’s 35 largest airports, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Last year, that number was down 10 percent to 13.3 million.
The airlines also are taking steps to improve their on-time performance. They include:
• Better technology. Airlines are flying newer planes with fewer maintenance problems.
• More realistic schedules. Flight times have been extended on some trips to account for delays.
• Timely delivery of food and fuel. Airlines have revised contracts with suppliers to include incentives for on-time deliveries and penalties for late ones.
• Improved boarding procedures. The order passengers get on has been streamlined and larger overhead bins have been installed.
Since Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood took office in 2008, the department has nearly tripled the number of annual enforcement actions taken against airlines — from 20 to 59 last year. Fines have jumped from $1.2 million to $6.1 million.
“We sent a very loud message to the airlines that they need to treat people with respect,” LaHood says. “People pay a lot of money to get on an airplane and they expect to have to on-time service.”
The News Tribune’s John Gillie contributed to this report.
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