Latest FAA statistics confirm that air travel has reached a new low. In the first third of 2007, over one-quarter of flights within the U.S. were late on arrival, and almost 70,000 flights were canceled. And this despite many airlines padding their arrival times to give them a generous cushion against delays.
Nearly half of the delays were weather-related, including the Denver snowstorm debacle that sent JetBlue's (NASDAQ: JBLU) reputation for customer service plummeting. Even in April, after the weather improved, JetBlue was second only to US Airways in lowest on-time arrivals, at 64.8%. Comair joined the tardy trio with 67.9% on-time arrivals.
US Airways (NYSE: LCC), which I've nicknamed "Air Mañana," operated four of the six most frequently delayed flights in April. These six flights you most want to avoid: