It’s a common sight in airports, sleepy-faced travelers waiting on a flight, which has been most likely delayed. Travelers have become accustomed to waiting these monotonous hours because flight delays have previously been a commonplace feature in airline service. Things, however, might be looking up, according to the latest statistics. So you might want to opt for the quick-read magazine instead of the long novel when choosing your in-flight reading material.
MSNBC reports:

The Transportation Department said Tuesday that the nation’s airlines were on time more often in June compared to a year ago.

According to Dallas Business Journal, AMR Corp.’s, nation’s biggest carrier, the parent company of American Airlines Inc., had the worst on-time rate, at 58.8 percent. United Airlines, was next at 59.3.

The best on-time arrival rate goes to Hawaiian Airlines, a unit of Hawaiian Holdings Inc., at 92.2 percent. Among the major hub carriers, US Airways Group Inc. was best and sixth overall, at 76.3 percent.

For the most part, delayed flights are as a result of bad weather. According to Transportation Department, 47.2 percent of late flights were delayed by weather, up from both the 44.1 percent rate in May and 45 percent in June 2007.

MSNBC reports that the airlines are improving their performance with handling baggage as well. There were 5.15 reports of mishandled luggage for every 1,000 passengers in June, which was an improvement over the year-earlier figure of 7.94 complaints per 1,000 customers.

We can conclude from these statistics, that American Airlines are on their way to liberate us from small but very undesirable technical problems during our travels. But you can also participate in the process of improvement by addressing your service complaints to the Airlines. Your comments and compaints can be registered with DOT’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division.

You can call, write or use our web form.You may call the ACPD 24 hours a day at 202-366-2220 (TTY 202-366-0511) to record your complaint. Calls are returned Monday through Friday, generally between 7:30 am and 5:00 pm Eastern time.

Who knows, maybe air travel won’t be such a chore anymore? One can dream, until then it’s up to us to contribute with customer surveys in order to make the process at least tolerable.

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