AP Photo/Rick Maiman
#18 American
On-time performance: 73.4%
American came in last place in 2008, but even its strong move from 68% only bumped it up one spot in our list.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
Bryan Correira
#17 Atlantic Southeast
On-time performance: 74.1%
This regional airline edged up 2 percentage points in on-time arrival, but still dropped two spots on the overall ranking.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
Mark Peterson/Corbis
#16 JetBlue
On-time performance: 74.5%
JetBlue didn’t appear in the bottom five spots in 2008, but even though its percentage of on-time arrivals increased in 2009 (up from 72.6%) it dropped from the #14 spot.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
David Osborn / Alamy
#15 Mesa
On-time performance: 74.9%
Mesa increased its on-time arrivals, but other airlines did it better: Mesa still dropped from the #13 spot.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
AFP/Getty Images
#14 United
On-time performance: 75%
In 2008, United came in as the second-worst airline for on-time performance, so it’s promising to see it has moved a full 6 percentage points higher and out of the bottom 5 spots.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
George Hall/Corbis
#13 Continental
On-time performance: 75.3%
In 2008, Continental was squarely in the middle of the pack—it was the #10 airline, with 74.5% of its flights arriving on time—so it’s lost a little steam.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
Blaine Harrington III / Alamy
#12 ExpressJet
On-time performance: 75.5%
ExpressJet operates as Continental Express, and in terms of on-time arrivals is in the same league as Continental. Last year, ExpressJet’s 73.7% gave it a #11 ranking.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
Bryan Correira
#11 American Eagle
On-time performance: 76.1%
American Eagle made a strong move in 2009. Last year the airline was #4 on the worst carriers for on-time performance with 71%. This year it’s moved out of the bottom 5 and solidly into the middle of the pack.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
Jeff Greenberg / Alamy
#10 Delta
On-time performance: 76.9%
Though most airlines increased their on-time performance, Delta’s dropped ever so slightly, from 77.3%. Unfortunately, that means slipping from the #7 spot, though the airline still remains in the top 10.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
Mason Vranish / Alamy
#9 Alaska
On-time performance: 77.6%
There wasn’t much movement for Alaska, which gained 1 percentage point in on-time arrivals from 2008 but slipped from #8.
America's Best & Worst Airlines 2009
