NEW YORK — Fliers rejoice: U.S. airlines are more punctual and less likely to lose your bag than at any time in more than two decades.
Travelers still have to put up with packed planes, rising fees and unpredictable security lines, but they are late to fewer business meetings and missing fewer chances to tuck their kids into bed.
Nearly 84 percent of domestic flights arrived within 15 minutes of their schedule time in the first half of the year — the best performance since the government started tracking such data in 1988.
The improvement over the first six months of 2011, when 77 percent of flights were on time, is mostly the result of good weather and fewer planes in the sky.
Airlines are also doing a better job of handling bags. Fewer than three suitcases per 1,000 passengers were reported lost, damaged or delayed from January through June, a record low. The two areas of improvement are related: when flights are late, bags often miss their connection.
