AirTran is 8th On Time, 3rd With Luggage

[haze]

AirTran's numbers near the top of the industry:

Airlines' on-time record slumps

By KIRSTEN TAGAMI
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/07/04


...Many of the extra flights are at the biggest airports, which causes a cascading effect of delays throughout the system, Mitchell noted.

The chief culprit for delays was congested skies, followed by ripple-effect delays when one late flight creates another, the DOT report said.

Delta Air Lines, which controls most of the traffic at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, arrived within 15 minutes of schedule at its home airport 72 percent of the time. Its overall on-time rate was 76 percent, putting it 15th among the 19 carriers tracked.

Atlanta's second-biggest carrier, AirTran, landed on time at Hartsfield-Jackson 78 percent of the time. Its 80 percent overall mark was eighth among all airlines.

The report also measures the rate of mishandled luggage.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines, a Delta subsidiary, has been at the bottom of the list for most of the past year. In May it had almost 11 lost, delayed, damaged or pilfered luggage reports per 1,000 passengers, well above the industry average of just over four. But it moved into 18th place ahead of Atlantic Coast Airlines — now flying as Independence Air — which had a rate of 12 baggage reports per 1,000 passengers.

Delta had the seventh-lowest rate of lost luggage, while AirTran was third.

[dbaker]

Originally Posted by haze

AirTran's numbers near the top of the industry:

Near the top? You mean in the top 50%?

[jetmech717]

Looks good to me Haze Hey Baker how are things over in Texas? Goooooooooo AirTran

[B717mech]

baker said:

Near the top? You mean in the top 50%?

I think being 8th overall is pretty damn good. I am sure it was an improvement from the last time this list came out. I have just one question for you. Do you have anything good to say about AirTran?

[dbaker]

Originally Posted by B717mech

I think being 8th overall is pretty damn good.

Um, ok, keep up the good work then.

Originally Posted by B717mech

I am sure it was an improvement from the last time this list came out.

Your level of confidence in things that are so easy to disprove leads to believe that you might be less than reliable in other subject areas. See the DOT's on-time perfornace statistics to show how it was indeed not an improvement.

[B717mech]

your right baker I see i was wrong. I thought it was because we had done poorly in the past. I didn't see the list for Mar2004. As for my reliablity on other subject matters. I state nothing but facts that I experience on the job day in and day out. That experience goes for 9 years here at AirTran. But you Still did not answer my Question??
Do you have anything good to say about AirTran???

[RyJones]

Originally Posted by B717mech

Do you have anything good to say about AirTran???

Airtran buys Boeing gear, which keeps the local economy up.

Or perhaps I should say Airtran's insurance provider buys replacement gear from Boeing, keeping the local economy up.

Thanks!

[B717mech]

ryjones:

Airtran buys Boeing gear, which keeps the local economy up.

Or perhaps I should say Airtran's insurance provider buys replacement gear from Boeing, keeping the local economy up.

Thanks!

Yep that is what I expected. It's hard for me and probably alot of people that read this site, to believe that Airtran is so bad how could we possible be one of the only airlines making money, we have all new planes, built a new multi million dollar hangar. record loads month after month. One of the best Management teams in all the industry ( noted by several publications.) I don't understand.

[haze]

Originally Posted by dbaker

Near the top? You mean in the top 50%?

No, I mean near the top of the industry:

Delta had the seventh-lowest rate of lost luggage, while AirTran was third.

If you'll go back and read my post subject line, I mention arrivals as well as baggage handling. When I refer to "numbers", I'm speaking of both statistics. Just as the subject line states

[haze]

Originally Posted by B717mech

Yep that is what I expected. It's hard for me and probably alot of people that read this site, to believe that Airtran is so bad how could we possible be one of the only airlines making money, we have all new planes, built a new multi million dollar hangar. record loads month after month. One of the best Management teams in all the industry ( noted by several publications.) I don't understand.

Don't forget:

1) Awarded Entrepreneur Magazine's 2004 "Airline of the Year" for the 2nd time in 3 years. See my other AirTran thread regarding this information.

2) The perpetual winner of the Southeast Association of Travel Agents "Airline of the Year" award several years running.

3) Three-time recipient of the FAA's coveted "Diamond Award" for the highest safety training and maintenance since 1998. See my other AirTran thread regarding this information.

And so on...

[dbaker]

Originally Posted by haze

If you'll go back and read my post subject line, I mention arrivals as well as baggage handling.

Wow, that's great.

With Airtran's amazing lost luggage rate of 2.8%, that means that if there are 200 bags on a given flight, only 5-6 will be lost/delayed/misrouted.

Good deal and kudos to the AirTran team for the accomplishment.

[haze]

Originally Posted by dbaker

Wow, that's great.

With Airtran's amazing lost luggage rate of 2.8%, that means that if there are 200 bags on a given flight, only 5-6 will be lost/delayed/misrouted.

Good deal and kudos to the AirTran team for the accomplishment.

Now now, dbaker, you're making this WAAAAY too easy. Exposing your deliberate, blatant, propagandist libel is starting to be like shooting fish in a barrel. Go back and check the stats: the 2.8 is per 1000, not per 100. So that's 0.28%, not 2.8% which is (like I said) 3rd best in the industry. So if there are 200 bags on a given flight, only 0.5 will be lost/delayed/misrouted.

Good deal and kudos to the ITYT team for the outstanding math. This from your link:

...The airline with the worst record in 2003 was a Delta Air Lines subsidiary, Atlantic Southeast, which mishandled 15.41 bags per 1,000 people, the department said. American Airlines, the world's biggest carrier, lost 4.45 bags per 1,000 people, the department said, while the carrier with the best record, Alaska Airlines, lost 2.56 bags per 1,000 passengers. Three low-cost airlines -- AirTran, JetBlue and Southwest -- had rates of 2.84, 3.21 and 3.35, respectively.

Notice that AirTran (2.84 per 1000) is even nipping at the heals of industry #1 Alaska (2.56 per 1000) for top honors. Well ahead of Southwest, mind you

[dbaker]

I stand corrected -- thanks for the clarification.

FYI, it actually says per thousand people, not bag. Since lots of people don't check luggage, that could make a significant difference although since the people checking luggage might often check >1, the difference is probably negligible.

[haze]

Originally Posted by dbaker

FYI, it actually says per thousand people, not bag.

I'm aware that it states per 1000 people, I was just correcting the numbers to your analogy about bags. Happens to the best of us on occasion, you actually just nailed me on another thread about the NTSB vs FAA where the FAA rewarded AirTran for safety. In my haste I hadn't realized that the NTSB was citing the FAA as well. Guess that makes us even tonight.

We should probably put a stop to all this niceness between the two of us, the natives might think we've lost our edge. Some probably lurk here just to enjoy our jousting. I enjoy it. Touche'

[trs717]

I'm starting to notice here that reasoning with Baker is like wrestling with a pig -- You both get dirty, only the pig actually likes it.