![]() ![]() More than half of the complaints against Spirit dealt with flight problems, with a smattering for refunds, baggage and customer service. Spirit passengers were 43 times more likely to file a complaint than passengers on Alaska Airlines, which had the lowest complaint rate. But the Miramar, Fla.-based company had by far the highest complaint rate of the 14 airlines covered in the report. ![]() That's small compared with the number of passengers - about one in 5,200. It wasn't big enough to be included in the government reports last year.Īccording to the government, 284 passengers filed complaints about Spirit. The overall rate of complaints against airlines jumped 45 percent from June 2014, but Spirit alone was responsible for more than half the increase. ![]() Spirit's on-time rating was the worst since June 2005, when Alaska Airlines posted a 49.8 percent mark. ![]() On six routes, the Spirit delays averaged more than two hours. Nearly one-fourth of Spirit's flights were late at least 70 percent of the time in June. Spirit performed poorly at nearly all airports it serves but was worst in Philadelphia, Chicago's O'Hare Airport and Detroit, where on-time percentages were in the 30s. Hawaiian Airlines, which benefits from many short flights in mostly good weather, finished on top, with 90.5 percent of its flights landing on time, followed by Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America, all three of which beat 80 percent. Department of Transportation report operated 74.8 percent of their flights on time in June, up from 71.8 percent in June 2014. He said maintenance issues and bad weather - thunderstorms at one of United's hub airports on 25 different days, he said - contributed to the delays. "It wasn't the performance we like to provide for our customers," said spokesman Charlie Hobart. United Airlines had the second-worst on-time rating, at 66.3 percent. Spirit did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was the worst on-time performance by a major airline in eight years. Only 49.9 percent of its flights arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, which is the government's definition of being on time. Inclusion is the ranking based on OAG access to flight status data for at least 80 of all scheduled. Departing 15 minutes or after scheduled arrival is taken as not on-time. Cancellations are included and taken as not on-time. Spirit, a low-fare, high-fee carrier with a clientele of mostly leisure travelers, had by far the worst on-time performance in June among 14 airlines tracked in a government report. Airline On-time performance is based on the actual gate departure times within 15 minutes of schedule. Perhaps then it is no surprise that Spirit has the highest complaint rate of any major U.S. Follow her at /hbaskas.DALLAS - Passengers on a Spirit Airlines flight have a 50-50 chance the flight will be late. She occasionally contributes to Ben Mutzabaugh's Today in the Sky blog. Harriet Baskas is a Seattle-based airports and aviation writer and USA TODAY Travel's "At the Airport" columnist. Large airports ranked by average OTP for 2015 North American airlines ranked by average OTP for 2015 OAG’s full report can be downloaded here. “Business travelers increasingly make airline punctuality part of their decision making,” OAG senior analyst John Grant told Today in the Sky. “Through both hard statistics and airport lounge discussions, executives recognize which airlines are more punctual than others and indeed which individual flights by time of day.” Copenhagen (88.5%) and Berlin (86.3%) airports top the on-time performance globally for meeting sites, while in the United States Atlanta (84.3%), Phoenix (83.3%), San Diego (83.2%) and Minneapolis (83.2%) come out on top. ![]()
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