Flying Low
Missing Continental: United ranks dead last in on-time arrivals, mishandled bags& complaints
Another month, another poor performance rating: United Airlines' rankings for July 2012 were far inferior to other carriers in the September Air Travel Consumer Report, released by the Office of Aviation Enforcement and Proceedings this week.
The airline made only 64.1 percent of arrivals on time (at all reportable airports), coming in dead last among the carriers for the month and for the year-to-date. Out of 6082 flights through George Bush Intercontinental in July, only 65.3 arrived on time. Compare that to Southwest Airlines, which arrived on time 77.4 percent of the time.
United canceled 1,115 flights in July, just over two percent of its total scheduled operations, and ranked last among legacy carriers for mishandled baggage, with 4.84 reports per 1,000 passengers.
While American Airlines — comparable in load numbers — cited 193 passenger complaints in July, United tallied a whopping 995 complaints. Most passengers complained of in-flight problems, customer service and issues with reservations, ticketing or boarding.
Stay tuned for next month, when we'll see how United's recent computer system crash affected the airline's August ratings.