Airlines With Best and Worst On-Time Records and Frontier's Improved Rank

We come to praise Frontier Airlines, not to bury it — and that's a change over the past year or so. Last May, for instance, we posted about the airlines with the least and most consumer complaints according to the Air Travel Consumer Report, a document published semi-annually by the...

By Michael Roberts

March 16, 2016

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We come to praise Frontier Airlines, not to bury it — and that's a change over the past year or so.

Last May, for instance, we posted about the airlines with the least and most consumer complaints according to the Air Travel Consumer Report, a document published regularly by the Department of Transportation.

And Frontier, Denver's hometown airline, finished dead last.

We checked back in November, when the Transportation Department released figures for September, and while Frontier moved up a slot, to twelfth out of thirteen carriers, the number of complaints against the airline, as well as the percentage of complaints per 100,000 enplanements, more than doubled over September 2014.

How did Frontier do in the newly released March 2016 Air Travel Consumer Report, featuring data from January?

Well, the airline is still eleventh out of twelve carriers when it comes to overall consumer complaints. But the gripes are less than half the number collected in January 2015, and its current stats are very close to those chalked up by American and United — which isn't great, but an improvement.

Even better is its record when it comes to on-time arrivals and departures at all U.S. airports, with Frontier even topping its arch-rival, Southwest. Count down the photo-illustrated rankings below, featuring Department of Transportation data. That's followed by the complete Air Travel Consumer Report.

Number 12: Spirit Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 33

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 68.1 percent

Number 11: JetBlue Airways

Number of Airports Reported: 62

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 69.4 percent

Number 10: Virgin America

Number of Airports Reported: 20

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 74.5 percent

Number 9: Skywest Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 183

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 77.6

Number 8: American Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 95

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 79.8

Number 7: ExpressJet Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 163

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 81.2

Continue to keep counting down the best airlines when it comes to on-time arrivals, including Frontier.

Number 6: United Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 86

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 82.5

Number 5: Southwest Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 86

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 83.8

Number 4: Frontier Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 50

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 85.1

Number 3: Delta Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 148

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 85.2

Number 2: Alaska Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 64

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 87.0 percent

Number 1: Hawaiian Airlines

Number of Airports Reported: 17

Percent of Arrivals on Time: 91.7

Air Travel Consumer Report, March 2016

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

Contact: Michael Roberts

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