Best & Worst Airlines for Holiday Travel

Forbes.com and Flightaware teamed up to put together a list of the best and wort airlines for Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday. Flightaware used arrival delays, rather than departure, delays from 2010 through 2012.

I was impressed that the metric was arrival delays; rather than departure delays. Typically, departure delays are used to determine an airline's on-time level. However, the article correctly pointed out, "it is sometimes possible for airlines to make up time lost on the ground while the plane is in the sky." In additon, the Forbes learned that" late arrivals actually declined during the Thanksgiving travel season — just 12 percent of Thanksgiving flights were delayed last year, compared with 19 percent in 2010. according to the Transportation Department."

Now the Best List:

1. Hawaiian Airlines
2. Alaskan Airlines
3. Mesa Airlines
4. Airtran Airlines
5. US Airways

www.hawaiimagazine.com

As you see, 3.5 of the 5 airlines operate West of Rockies (The 1/2 is US Airways due to their AmericanWest merger). The location of where an airline operates can have drastic effect of on-time ratings.

Looking at the list of worst on-time airlines, you will notice that they operate heavily in the Midwest or out of big traffic heavy airports

And the Worst List

5. American Eagle
4. American Airlines
3. Frontier Airlines
2. Express Jet
1. JetBlue

Jetblue.com

" 'With 75 percent of our flights touching the Northeast, either New York or Boston, one delay in the morning can affect the entire line of flying for that airplane,' said Jenny Dervin, a JetBlue spokeswoman. And, the Northeast is particularly affected by the kind of winter storms that delay flights."

Should these lists change who you choose to fly over the holidays? My opinion is no. Airline delays is like stock picking. You can do all the research in the world, but there are always external factors outside your control. The only thing you can do is pack your patience. Bring a smile, your patience and some holiday cheer and you will be at your destination in no time.

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