ATLANTA — U.S. airlines’ on-time performance, baggage handling and domestic cancellation rates were not as good in November compared with the previous month but still improved from a year earlier, the Transportation Department said Wednesday. The agency also said it received fewer complaints about airline service.
As airlines have cut capacity and made other changes, they have been able generally to cut delays and do a better job handling bags.
The DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics said the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 83.3 percent in November, an improvement over 2007’s 80 percent rate but below the rate of 86 percent recorded in October 2008. The agency said carriers in November canceled 0.8 percent of scheduled domestic flights, below the 1 percent rate of November 2007 but higher than the 0.6 percent rate in October ’08.
The airlines overall had a mishandled baggage rate of 3.75 reports per 1,000 passengers in November, better than November 2007 but more than in October 2008. The Associated Press
