DOT figures: Good news, bad news with new rules in place
By Andrew Compart, Travel Weekly, 10/06/2006
The mishandled baggage rate for U.S. airlines climbed to 8.08 per 1,000 passengers in August, up from 6.5 the month before -- an increase that might be attributable to the 20% increase in checked baggage under new airport security rules.
Transportation Dept. figures showed the worst rates among the major U.S. airlines were 10.33 for US Airways, 9 for Delta, 7.99 for Alaska and 7.28 for United, but almost every airline's performance deteriorated (JetBlue and Northwest, the latter with the best rate among the majors, were the notable exceptions).
But there is some prospect for relief: the number of checked bags should decline with the Transportation Security Administration's recent relaxation of the new rules to let passengers carry on some liquids.
The good news for travelers in August is that the new rules did not appear to affect on-time performance.
The on-time rate was 75.8% for the 22 airlines that report their monthly performance to the DOT. That compares to 73.7% in July and 75.2% in August 2005.
Southwest posted the best rate among the major carriers, at 81%, followed by Northwest at 77.1% and United and Continental at 76.3%. Alaska ranked last among the majors at 68.5%.
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