Southwest ON-TIME FLIGHTS

[SKY HIGH]

NEW YORK -- Here's a look at how the country's largest airlines fared in on-time rankings for the month of October:

Airline On-Time Arrival Pct.

1 Hawaiian 95.4

2 AirTran 90.4

3 United 89.9

4 Alaska 88.1

5 Mesa 87.9

6 Continental 87.5

7 Frontier 86.9

8 ExpressJet 86.8

9 Pinnacle 86.7

10 American Eagle 86.5

11 American 86.3

12 US Airways 84.1

13 SkyWest 83.0

14 Delta 82.9

15 Atlantic Southeast 80.7

16 Comair 78.0

****17**** Southwest 77.5

18 Jetblue 76.7

 

[does this plane go to paris]

The truth in advertising test should be applied in these statistics. At least when you book on Southwest, you know that you're going to be on a Southwest Flight. The Southwest stats indicate the true stats for their 3,500 daily flights. Some carrier's are only reporting on 1,300 flights, yet if you go their website, you book a flight on what you think is a mainline flight it most likely turns out to be an express flight. The paint job is nearly the same, the same inflight magazine is used and it's got a flight number that says its a mainline flight, yet if the express flight is late, the mainline carrier takes no responsibility for it and blames the other carrier. Are those stats included in this report? How is that fair.

But then again life isn't fair and you work with what you got. If that includes posting articles against a carrier you don't work and proclaiming what is good or bad customer service in situations where you weren't present and don't know all of the facts, I guess that's what some people do.

 

[SKY HIGH]

Some carrier's are only reporting on 1,300 flights, yet if you go their website, you book a flight on what you think is a mainline flight it most likely turns out to be an express flight. The paint job is nearly the same, the same inflight magazine is used and it's got a flight number that says its a mainline flight.

ALOT of the express carriers are shown above in those statistics, even they're reporting BETTER RESULTS then Southwest.
YOU bragged for years about you're QUICK TURNS and great service, but, I like the company's excuse for being at the BOTTOM for on time statistics for OCT:

Of the 18 airlines that report, Southwest finished next to last (only ahead of JetBlue). The average for the month for all airlines was 83.8 percent of flights arriving within 15 minutes of scheduled times, but Southwest had only 77.5 percent. That’s a big drop from its middle-of-the-pack performance ratings most months over the last year. So this performance is an outlier. What happened?

Southwest says:

Record load factors during the month contributed to our decisions to delay aircraft and hold for Customers who we wouldn’t have been able to accommodate if we had cancelled flights.

That’s not exactly satisfying. It makes it sound like Southwest is just going to have a worse operation because it has more people on its flights. But that’s not acceptable.

http://www.bnet.com/blog/airline-business/southwest-8217s-performance-problem-how-to-fix-those-late-arrivals/2996?tag=content;drawer-container

 

[BoeingBoy]

ALOT of the express carriers are shown above in those statistics

A lot? Just US has more express carriers that don't report than the total that do report.

Over the prevvious 12 months, WN rated in the middle - #8 of 18.

Jim

 

[does this plane go to paris]

Jim,

I was looking for Air Wisconsin on the report and didn't see them. As I understand, they have a substantial presence in PHL, DCA and CLT for US. Do they report under different name or at all?

 

[BoeingBoy]

Only carriers that have at least 1% of scheduled domestic passenger revenue are required to submit reports for the monthly DOT report. The one exception is mishandled bags, which lists alphabetically any domestic air carrier that receives a baggage report although the rankings are only for those with at least 1% of scheduled domestic passenger revenue.

Any carrier can voluntarily report although most that aren't required to don't. Currently 2 express-type carriers voluntarily report - Expressjet and Pinnacle - while 16 carriers are required to submit reports.

With the consolidation of major carriers and growth of express operations, express-type carriers have become a larger percentage of those required to report, but those required to report are a minority of all the express-type carriers.

As you can tell from Mesa's listing, all the big express carriers operate flights for several "mainline" carriers so separating their rankings by airline operated for is about impossible.

Jim

 

[WorldTraveler]

Let's be clear also that the DOT has required full disclosure as to the operating carrier for all flights bearing US airline codes for years... it is available in all reservations sources including airline websites, on tickets and boarding passes, and at the airport... it is no surprise to anyone who is operating any flight for any US carrier and anyone who is even remotely tuned in will know this information.. and the DOT REGULARLY fines airlines for lack of full disclosure regarding the operating carrier - JetBlue just gone fined.

On-time statistics BY FLIGHT is also available and is becoming even more accessible to consumers - but it has always been available internally and must be provided to consumers if they ask.

Southwest's load factor for Nov was right at industry average, although WN for years has run LFs below the rest of the industry average... so perhaps, WN Is finding that running loads comparable to other airlines makes other carriers' operational issues seem more "normal."

The reality is that WN is operating in more and more congested and delay-prone areas of the US and that will mean, that like many things, WN will look less and less distinct from other carriers in terms of its operation. A greatly increased presence in the NE might result in changes to a number of WN's operational theories.

 

[SKY HIGH]

The reality is that WN is operating in more and more congested and delay-prone areas of the US and that will mean, that like many things, WN will look less and less distinct from other carriers in terms of its operation. A greatly increased presence in the NE might result in changes to a number of WN's operational theories.

Well said.

Operational changes are already happening:

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20101213/BIZ/312139946/1031/BIZ

Jets that once sat idle at airport gates for only 20 minutes between flights helped Southwest make efficiency gains on competitors in years past. That turn time has swelled to 30 minutes, Mainz said.

 

[jimntx]

30 minutes! Horrors! I guess WN just needs to go ahead and file for Chapter 7 and get moving on liquidating the (obviously) now useless assets. Here at AA we have that turn time down to an efficient 50 minutes (if we are lucky) for an MD80 (which is smaller than most WN 73s). I wouldn't go preaching the death (and certainly not the unprofitability) in WN's future. And, I sure wouldn't bet the rent money on either.

 

[BoeingBoy]

Let's be clear also that the DOT has required full disclosure as to the operating carrier for all flights bearing US airline codes for years...

True, but the OP wasn't talking about a specific flight but a specific airline's O/T rating as reported monthly by the DOT. For the legacy carriers, express operations aren't included in the contracting mainline carriers O/T data so there is no single source for AA, CO, DL, UA, or US branded flights overall.

Besides, because of the different definitions for on-time and late used by the DOT, how a passenger asks the question results in different questions. For example, the 1st non-stop on US from CLT to PHX that operated 100% of the scheduled flights - ask about it's on-time record and the answer is that it's on-time 58% of the time but ask how often it's late and the answer is 10% of the time. Both answers are correct according to DOT definitions but one says that it's late more than US' average and the other gives the impression that it's on-time rating is poor.

Jim

 

[WorldTraveler]

This is the paragraph in post 2 (Paris) that I referenced in my response:

The truth in advertising test should be applied in these statistics. At least when you book on Southwest, you know that you're going to be on a Southwest Flight. The Southwest stats indicate the true stats for their 3,500 daily flights. Some carrier's are only reporting on 1,300 flights, yet if you go their website, you book a flight on what you think is a mainline flight it most likely turns out to be an express flight. The paint job is nearly the same, the same inflight magazine is used and it's got a flight number that says its a mainline flight, yet if the express flight is late, the mainline carrier takes no responsibility for it and blames the other carrier. Are those stats included in this report? How is that fair.

The simple fact is that the network airlines operate much more complex networks but they also provide the details that are needed for each of the operators. Your point may be somewhat valid that you don't know how OT a flight on a regional carrier is because the operator might work for two airlines, but honestly, do people make a decision to purchase a ticket based on any carrier's SYSTEM OT numbers? Doubtful. If you fly LGA-ORD, you want to know the OT for THAT segment. How DFW-IAH does is immaterial to your decision if you don't intend to fly it yet the system average includes that.

Likewise, WN's OT is clearly going down as they venture into the congested and weather prone NE and midwest. I don't care what WN's system OT is if they don't operate BOS-BWI OT and conversely, I could care less how BOS-BWI fares if all I ever fly is PHX-LAS.

Statistics can be used to show lots of stories but if you ask the right question and ensure the answer you are given answers the question you asked, statistics can be very useful.

Now that WN has committed to 738s, it seems a given that their ground time will have to go up on flights operated w/ those aircraft, esp. in NE cities.

Again, WN is becoming less distinct and more like the other carriers.

 

[Veritas]

Here at AA we have that turn time down to an efficient 50 minutes (if we are lucky) for an MD80 (which is smaller than most WN 73s).

Huh? AA MD80 holds 140 (16/124). WN 733 and 73G hold 137, the 735 holds 122.

 

[jimntx]

Well, excuuuse me. So, we have 3 more seats in our plane, and yet it takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes longer to turn a plane. I don't think the real issue is the number of seats on the plane, is it? The issue is productivity, efficiency, and profit-making--none of which are hallmarks of the AA operation.

 

[tadjr]

So, we have 3 more seats in our plane, and yet it takes anywhere from 20-30 minutes longer to turn a plane. I don't think the real issue is the number of seats on the plane, is it?

Actually, I think WN is able to turn the planes more quickly because the people get on, stow their stuff and sit down. Theres no one standing in row 5 rummaging thru their carryon in the overhead trying to find their book, because everyone else will be pushing past them and taking all the window/aisle seats while they're diddling around. If you know you have 5C, then you dont really care if you're blocking the aisle so everyone else has to wait, you know you can sit in 5C when you're ready. Doesnt work like that on WN.

 

[BoeingBoy]

This is the paragraph in post 2 (Paris) that I referenced in my response:

I'd even go further and say only a small minority of passengers pay any attention to an individual flights OT performance. Which make the "headline" rankings the DOT publishes that much more important - a perception of a flight on Brand X is formed based on incomplete data. Just look no further than the emphasis US management put on the DOT numbers - make the "headline" numbers look good no matter what.

Jim