Time is money — and can become one of the hidden costs of travel when your plane is late. The Department of Transportation requires the top 10 U.S. airlines to report their on-time performance at 29 major U.S. airports each month. A flight is counted “late” if it departs or arrives 15 minutes or more past schedule; cancelled flights are not counted as “late.”
One set of figures lists specific, regularly scheduled flights that arrive late 80 percent of the time or more. Statistics for March (released in May) showed that America West’s flight 2749 from Las Vegas to Columbus, Ohio, scheduled to depart at 11:41 p.m., was late 80.65 percent of the time, and late by an average 59 minutes. Assuming you earn $50,000 a year and work a 40-hour week, those 59 minutes would have cost you about $24, had you been on the flight and “on the clock.”
United’s flight 712 from Las Vegas to Chicago-O’Hare, scheduled to depart 2:40 p.m., ran late 94.12 percent of the time in March, arriving an average of 40 minutes behind schedule. Again, assuming the $50,000 salary for a 40-hour week, those 40 minutes would have cost you about $16 had you been on board. And who wants to leave Las Vegas losing more money than they already have?
Yet overall, airline schedules are a dice roll: The top eight U.S. airlines landed 25,355 flights at Chicago-O’Hare (Southwest and Alaska Airlines don’t serve O’Hare) in March, and only 74.3 percent of those flights got there on time. Departures were more punctual, with 78 percent of 25,355 flights taking off on time.
Chicago-Midway was more efficient in March: Its 4,734 arrivals came in on time 81 percent of the time; its 4,735 departures left on time 80 percent of the time.
