Delta led airlines in on-time arrivals in 2012

Delta led the nation's biggest network airlines in getting customers to their destinations on time last year, latest data from the Transportation Department through nearly all the year shows.

From January to November, 86.64% of Delta's flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

Overall, 2012 was a good year for those flying the 15 carriers that provide data to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics on their on-time arrivals, cancelations and mishandled bags.

Last year, 82.32% of flights were on time during the first 11 months, compared with 79.2% the same period the year before. That was the third highest for any January to November period in the 18 years with comparable numbers.

Only 1.27% of flights were canceled during that time, compared with 2.01% the year before. That was the third lowest cancellation rate in 18 years.

And just three bags per every 1,000 passengers were mishandled in 2012, compared with 3.36 the year before.

Joshua Marks, executive director of the American Aviation Institute, says the biggest factor in airlines' favor is the weather.

"The long and short of it was that the weather was incredible last year, with the exception of one bad episode," he says, referring to Hurricane Sandy in October, which caused widespread delays and cancellations.

Ron Carr, assistant professor of aeronautical science at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, says airlines have also reduced the number of flights to cut down on fuel costs and make sure that their planes are hardly ever empty.

"Those airplanes not being in the air reduces the overall traffic," he says. "If (air traffic control) handles less aircraft, they can do a better job of routing aircraft into their destinations."

He says they've also gotten better at timing their flights and padding their schedules to account for time-consuming activities like taxiing. "They do play with that," he says.

After having one of the worst on-time performances in 2010, the year it merged with Northwest, Delta has done a complete about-face.

Delta Spokesman Morgan Durrant says that after that, the airline made it a priority to get their planes to their destinations on-time, increasing the presence of maintenance workers at airports and keeping more spare planes around to do quick swap-outs if they needed to. The carrier also offered employees a bonus of $100 each if they improved their performance in three key areas including on-time arrivals.

"There's been a very concerted effort that began in 2011," he says.

Trailing Delta in on-time arrivals was U.S. Airways with a rate of 86.14%. Among the other top carriers, Southwest followed, with 83.94%. Data on AirTran, which was acquired by Southwest, was not included in that tally, however.

US Airways has also made on-time arrivals a priority, offering employees a $500 incentive if they improve in that and other areas, says spokeswoman Michelle Mohr,

United and American were the most delayed, with 77.27% and 77.1% of their flights getting to their destinations on time, respectively. United mishandled the most number of bags, while American canceled the most flights.

Both airlines had unique challenges last year. United switched over to Continental's computer system after the two carriers merged. Glitches in that process, particularly in the reservation system, delayed many passengers.

American, whose parent company AMR Corp. declared bankruptcy in November 2011, had labor unrest. The airline accused pilots of calling out sick for illegitimate reasons and canceled an unusually high number of flights in September.

Mary Ryan, a spokeswoman for United, said the carrier was "going to continue to focus on consistent performance and delivering the service our customers expect."

She said the airline has improved its performance recently, with 88.3% of flights arriving on time during the 10-day Thanksgiving travel period, an improvement over the previous year.

Andrea Huguely said the airline had more on-time flights in the first part of the year than in the last two quarters due to "the operational disruptions that we experienced during part of those periods."

The carrier started to rebound in late October and November, then took a dip in December because of winter weather. But, she says, "we have adopted a lot of new, sophisticated technology to improve the way we plan and manage our operation."

Despite the better overall results, consumer complaints continue to creep up. In November 2012, there were 688 consumer complaints against U.S. airlines, up from 644 last November.

USA Today