Skip to content

Top Navigation

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Trip Inspiration
  • Plan Your Trip
  • Travel Guides
  • World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises
  • Travel Tips
  • News
  • Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Subscribe
Pin FB

Explore Travel + Leisure

Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure
  • Explore

    Explore

    • World's Best

      The greatest islands, cities, hotels, cruise lines, airports, and more — as voted by you. Read More Next
    • The 50 Best Places to Travel in 2021

      Whether you're traveling solo or planning a family vacation, here are the 50 best places to visit in 2021. Read More Next
    • Let's Go Together Podcast

      Start listening to T+L's brand new podcast, Let's Go Together! Hosted by Kellee Edwards. Read More Next
  • Trip Inspiration

    Trip Inspiration

    • Trip Ideas
    • Weekend Getaways
    • Spring Travel
    • Summer Travel
    • Fall Travel
    • Winter Travel
    • Solo Travel
    • Romantic Getaways
    • Luxury Travel
    • Beach Vacations
    • Adventure Travel
    • Road Trips
    • Family Travel
    • National Parks
    • Holiday Travel
    • Travel Photography
    • Photo of the Day
    • Culture and Design
  • Plan Your Trip

    Plan Your Trip

    • Travel Deals
    • Attractions
    • Amusement Parks
    • Festivals and Events
    • Bus and Trains
    • Flight Deals
    • Budget Travel
    • Hotels and Resorts
    • Disney Vacations
    • Airlines and Airports
    • Ground Transportation
  • Travel Guides
  • World's Best

    World's Best

    • Top Hotels
    • Top Cities
    • Top Islands
    • Domestic Airlines
    • International Airlines
    • Tours
    • Safaris
    • All World's Best
  • Destination of the Year
  • A-List Travel Advisors
  • Cruises

    Cruises

    • Find A Cruise
    • Caribbean Cruises
    • River Cruises
    • European Cruises
    • All-Inclusive Cruises
    • Family Cruises
    • Alaskan Cruises
    • Disney Cruises
    • See All Cruise Vacations
  • Travel Tips

    Travel Tips

    • Travel Trends
    • Packing Tips
    • Points + Miles
    • Budgeting + Currency
    • Customs + Immigration
    • Responsible Travel
    • Travel Etiquette
    • Travel Warnings
    • Weather
    • Mobile Apps
    • See All Travel Tips
  • News

    News

    • Wellness
    • Celebrity Travel
    • Animals
    • Jobs
    • Offbeat
    • See All News
  • Food + Drink

    Food + Drink

    • Restaurants
    • Wine
    • Beer
    • Cocktails + Spirits
    • Bars + Clubs
    • Celebrity Chefs
    • Cooking + Entertaining
    • Food Fairs + Festivals
    • World's Best Restaurants
    • See All Food + Drink
  • Travel Accessories

    Travel Accessories

    • Travel Bags
    • Shoes
    • Travel Tech
    • Shopping
    • Style
    • Gift Guides
    • See All Travel Accessories
  • Check-In

Profile Menu

Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
Your Profile

Your Profile

  • Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Give a Gift Subscription
  • Help
  • Logout
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. Home
  2. Airlines + Airports
  3. Best and Worst Airlines for Delays 2010

Best and Worst Airlines for Delays 2010

By Travelandleisure.com Staff
October 25, 2011
Skip gallery slides
Save Pin

1 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Credit: Bryan Correira

The airlines most—and least—likely to get you to your holiday destination on time.
We’ve all heard of, or even experienced, the missed family gatherings and crucial business meetings, the unhappily shortened vacations and honeymoons, and the unwelcome hours—and dollars—spent while stuck in airport terminals. Flights that don’t arrive and depart on time can, quite simply, ruin even the best-planned trip.

That’s why it makes sense to know, before you make your holiday travel plans, which airlines have a good track record for on-time flights—and which are most likely to leave you hanging.

The best and worst airlines for delays can vary quite a bit from year to year. So, as we do annually, Travel + Leisure consulted the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, which monitors the percentage of on-time arrivals for major U.S. airlines. This time, we checked out the 12-month period ending in June 2010—and found some big surprises.

First, the good news: the overall on-time performance for the 18 airlines tracked jumped almost 4% in the past year—flights arrived on time 79.7% of the time, up from 76.1% in 2009. That means that just about all the carriers surveyed (even those at the bottom of the list) experienced some improvement in their rate of on-time flights.

Within the rankings on our best-and-worst list, however, there were some big shifts this year. Several of last year’s high achievers, including Pinnacle and AirTran, experienced increased delay rates that were significant enough to send them into free fall in the rankings. Other airlines, like Continental and United, made up the difference by radically reducing their number of delays, and nabbing the top-ranked spots from their competitors.

The reasons for such dramatic changes can be harder to ascertain than the performance rates themselves. But the causes reported for delays by the airlines surveyed (also collected by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics) cite late-arriving connecting flights, air-traffic-control issues, airplane maintenance or repair, and bad weather as the most frequent problems. Year to year, depending on their routes, hubs, personnel, and equipment, certain airlines may experience a bigger share of those troubles.

For us travelers, however, the only concern on our minds as the holidays approach is likely to be “What airline is going to get me to Grandma’s house in time for Thanksgiving dinner?” Read our list and find out.

1 of 19

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 18: Comair

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 71.5%

Holding its position as the worst-ranked airline for delays (it was dead last in 2009 too), Comair also managed to keep its performance rate virtually unimproved: this year, it was less than 1% better than last year (70.7%).

2 of 19

3 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 17: Atlantic Southeast

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 75.9%

Perpetual low-performer Atlantic Southeast showed a slight improvement in the frequency of its delays; its on-time rate was just 74.1% last year. Still, the airline kept its spot as second worst among airlines surveyed.

3 of 19

Advertisement

4 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 16: American Eagle

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 76.3%

Outperformed by its competitors in 2010, American Eagle kept its on-time performance rate flat (from 76.1%)—but still plummeted in the rankings (from No. 11 in 2009).

4 of 19

5 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 15: ExpressJet

Credit: Marc Vander Maas

On-time performance: 77.1%

A small step forward in on-time performance (from 75.5%) couldn’t keep ExpressJet from sliding backward from its previous No. 12 spot.

5 of 19

6 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 14: AirTran

Credit: Courtesy of AirTran

On-time performance: 77.5%

Though it dipped only slightly in performance rate (its flights were on time 78.4% in 2009), AirTran’s upwardly mobile competitors caused it to plunge in the rankings (last year, it was No. 8).

6 of 19

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 13: American

Credit: Courtesy of The Port Authority of NY & NJ

On-time performance: 77.9%

Though it has yet to break into the top 10, American got a lot closer this year by leaping from its previous bottom-scraping No. 18 spot. The reason: a performance rate that rose from 73.4%.

7 of 19

8 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 12: JetBlue

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 78.1%

A 4% improvement in on-time performance—up from last year’s 74.5% performance—allowed JetBlue to leap four spots higher on the 2010 list.

8 of 19

9 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 11: Delta

Credit: Lyndsey Matthews

On-time performance: 78.5%

Holding steady in the middle of the rankings (it was No. 10 in 2009), Delta’s performance rate bumped up slightly this year, from 76.9%.

9 of 19

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

10 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 10: Pinnacle

Credit: Conor Clancy

On-time performance: 79.1%

The most shocking drop in 2010’s rankings was experienced by Pinnacle—No. 2 on last year’s list. The carrier’s on-time performance, however, fell just 4%, from its 2009 rate of 83.4%.

10 of 19

11 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 9: Frontier

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 79.8%

Sliding from its No. 6 spot in 2009, Frontier nevertheless kept a steady on-time performance rate (down just a hair from last year’s 80%).

11 of 19

12 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 8: Continental

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 80.4%

Continental’s much-improved 2010 performance rate—up from 75.3% last year—pushed it up five spots from its No. 13 rank in 2009.

12 of 19

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

13 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 7: SkyWest

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 80.8%

Though it dropped three spots in this year’s rankings, SkyWest actually experienced just a tiny decrease in performance: less than 1% over last year’s on-time rate (81.4%).

13 of 19

14 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 6: Mesa

Credit: Ryan Tidwell

On-time performance: 81.1%

In a giant leap over last year’s showing, Mesa jumped 6% in on-time performance (from 74.9%) and a whopping nine spots in rank (from No. 15).

14 of 19

15 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 5: Southwest

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 81.5%

A slight slip in on-time performance this year (its flights were on schedule 83% of the time in 2009) caused Southwest to drop two spots from its previous No. 3 ranking.

15 of 19

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

16 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 4: US Airways

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 82.3%

Perennial high-scorer US Airways proved there’s still room to grow at the top: a 2% bump up in performance (from 80.4%) lifted the airline one spot in this year’s rankings.

16 of 19

17 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 3: United

Credit: Agus Sutanto

On-time performance: 83.1%

United’s significant performance progress in 2010 (up from 75%, and a No. 14 spot, last year) gave it a massive boost in this year’s rankings.

17 of 19

18 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 2: Alaska

Credit: Don Wilson/Courtesy of Port of Seattle

On-time performance: 87.7%

Alaska Airlines made this year’s most impressive jump in performance: more than a 10% improvement in delays (from 77.6%) over 2009. Little wonder the airline rose from its previous No. 9 spot.

18 of 19

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

19 of 19

Save Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

No. 1: Hawaiian

Credit: Bryan Correira

On-time performance: 92.0%

The top-ranked winner on last year’s list (and the year before that), Hawaiian Air wasn’t content to rest on its laurels in 2010. Despite being well ahead of the pack, the airline still pushed its performance rate even higher this year (from 89.5%).

19 of 19

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Travelandleisure.com Staff

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Trending Videos
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 19
2 of 19 No. 18: Comair
3 of 19 No. 17: Atlantic Southeast
4 of 19 No. 16: American Eagle
5 of 19 No. 15: ExpressJet
6 of 19 No. 14: AirTran
7 of 19 No. 13: American
8 of 19 No. 12: JetBlue
9 of 19 No. 11: Delta
10 of 19 No. 10: Pinnacle
11 of 19 No. 9: Frontier
12 of 19 No. 8: Continental
13 of 19 No. 7: SkyWest
14 of 19 No. 6: Mesa
15 of 19 No. 5: Southwest
16 of 19 No. 4: US Airways
17 of 19 No. 3: United
18 of 19 No. 2: Alaska
19 of 19 No. 1: Hawaiian

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Travel + Leisure Travel + Leisure

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Subscribe this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing this link opens in a new tab
  • Sitemap
  • Travel Guide Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletters
Other Travel + Leisure Sites
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Cooking Light this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en Español this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
Travel + Leisure is part of the Travel + Leisure Group. Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. Travel + Leisure is a registered trademark of Meredith Corporation Travel + Leisure Group All Rights Reserved, registered in the United States and other countries. Travel + Leisure may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.travelandleisure.com

View image

Best and Worst Airlines for Delays 2010
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.