American Public Responds, "No... Kidding"

For anyone who has traveled via commercial airlines over the past month or so, the following news will likely not surprise you. The Department of Transportation says US airline delays are at their highest level in at least 13 years... and the situation is unlikely to get any better, any time soon.

We'll pause while you slap your forehead, and exclaim "golly, guys... really? I had no idea!"

All sarcasm aside, the DOT report confirms the impressions of many airline travelers: that the industry's on-time performance for the first six months of the year was the worst it's ever been... or at least since the agency started collecting the relevant data in 1995.

In June alone, nearly one-third of all domestic flights on major airlines were late, reports The Associated Press.

Some say it isn't hard to determine why that is. Despite cutbacks in capacity, more airliners are in the sky at any given time... many of them smaller 40-80 seat regional jets, which airline consultant Robert Mann says leads to more congestion in a system "that was already saturated." A turbulent storm season also contributed to problems.

In June, US airlines posted on-time arrival rates of just over 68 percent. So far for 2007, nearly 25 percent of flights on the 20 biggest airlines have arrived late, according to DOT figures.

The worst offender? Atlantic Southeast Airlines, regional carrier for Delta. A middling 56 percent of the airline's flights arrived on time in June; five ASA flights were reported late 100 percent of the time.

The big guys weren't much better. American Airlines posted an on-time rate of just 58 percent; US Airways can trumpet its 62 percent on-time arrival rate, at least when compared with American.

Adding to the misery was the increased chance your baggage wasn't waiting for you at the end of your late flight. Reports of lost, damaged, and delayed luggage rose to 7.9 per 1,000 passengers for June 2007, over 1.5 percent higher than the same period in 2006.

Canceled trips rose to 2.7 percent of all domestic flights in June. Complaints filed with the government over shoddy airline service rose 43 percent from June 2006.

As in the past, the airline industry blames its abysmal overall showing on deficiencies with the nation's air traffic control system.

"We're not surprised by the numbers," said Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter. "We have been saying for some time: It's going to get worse before it gets better."

You mean we're not even at "worse" yet????

FMI: www.dot.gov, www.airlines.org