Photos: DIA airlines with the worst -- and best -- on-time performance

Ever rush to Denver International Airport only to spend hours waiting for your flight to arrive and/or take off? You're not alone -- but which carriers do the best job of preventing such problems? Fox31 analyzed the 232,174 flights that departed from DIA last year, then measured the performance of...

By Michael Roberts

June 27, 2013

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Ever rush to Denver International Airport only to spend hours waiting for your flight to arrive and/or take off? You're not alone -- but which carriers do the best job of preventing such problems? Fox31 analyzed the 232,174 flights that departed from DIA last year, then measured the performance of the five main airlines -- ExpressJet, Frontier, SkyWest, Southwest and United -- to determine the percentage of time when they took off exactly as scheduled and arrived right on the mark or early. And frankly, the numbers aren't all that impressive for even the best of the bunch.

See the photo-illustrated breakdown below, and click here to watch the Fox31 report.

Fifth best on-time push-back: Southwest -- 36 percent Fourth best on-time push-back: Frontier -- 44 percent Third best on-time push-back: ExpressJet -- 47 percent Second best on-time push-back: United -- 50 percent Best on-time push-back: SkyWest -- 62 percent

Continue to see which airline does best when it comes to reaching its destination on-time or early.

Fifth best at arriving on schedule or early: Frontier -- 42 percent Third best at arriving on schedule or early (tie): Southwest -- 50 percent Third best at arriving on schedule or early (tie): ExpressJet -- 50 percent Second best at arriving on schedule or early: SkyWest -- 57 percent Best at arriving on schedule or early: United -- 60 percent

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.

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