Southwest flight leads industry in behind-schedule performance
| • | Top 10 most frequently delayed flights in U.S. |
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Leaving Las Vegas wasn't so easy last year if you wanted to arrive in Reno before dinner. Southwest Airlines' one-hour afternoon flight between the two gambling meccas was late more than 60 percent of the time in 2000, the worst on-time performance of any regularly scheduled trip.
Associated Press
Nineteen other flights also arrived late at least half of the time last year, Bureau of Transportation Statistics records show.
Southwest Airlines was late more than 60 percent of the time on its Las Vegas-Reno flights, worst in the industry.
Southwest's 2:40 p.m. flight out of Las Vegas arrived in Reno at least 15 minutes behind schedule 60.4 percent of the time in 2000. The average delay was 22.6 minutes.
Southwest's 4:15 p.m. Reno-to-Las Vegas flight was almost as big a gamble; it arrived at least 15 minutes late 58.5 percent of the time last year.
Airline officials said they have adjusted their schedules to reduce the delays.
At the request of The Associated Press, BTS analyzed its flight data from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 to find the 20 flights most often arriving late.
Southwest and American each accounted for six of the 20 latest flights. Three American flights arrived at least 40 minutes late on average. Five other regularly late flights were flown by United Airlines. All of American's and United's latest flights either took off or landed at either New York's LaGuardia Airport or Chicago's O'Hare Airport; Southwest does not fly to either.
Thirteen of the latest flights landed at or took off from the overcrowded LaGuardia. Nine flights arrived at or left from O'Hare. LaGuardia had more delayed flights than any other airport last year, with O'Hare second, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
FAA spokesman William Shumann said LaGuardia's delays were exacerbated last fall after airlines added some 300 flights to the crowded airport. Earlier this year, the FAA rolled back the number of new flights to 159, and used a lottery to award takeoff and landing slots.
An airline expert blamed the airlines for trying to squeeze in too many flights at peak travel times, and the FAA for letting it happen.
