Flight Delays Rise Slightly in August

Airline on-time performance continued to slip last month, falling to 70% for the 10 largest carriers, the Transportation Department reported. That was below the 70.3% on-time rating in July, though not as bad as June’s 66.3% rate. United Airlines continued to hold down the last spot with just 42.7% of its flights arriving on time in August. Although weather and airport capacity problems in the face of increasing travel volume have been blamed for many delays, United has also faced added trouble from a labor dispute with its pilots. August’s best on-time performance was turned in by Northwest at 79.2%. Continental was second at 77.7%, followed by Delta, 77.3%; TWA, 76.7%; and Southwest, 76.2%. In August, the major carriers canceled 3.1% of their scheduled domestic flights, a slight improvement over the 3.2% rate of July. Consumers registered 2,911 complaints about airline service with the government, an increase of 19% over the 2,444 complaints filed in July and 24% more than the 2,348 complaints registered in August 1999.