If you’re looking to book an on-time flight to New York City it could be a challenge, based on the latest data from FlightStats, the independent company which keeps meticulous track of who leaves, and arrives, late.
New York LaGuardia, by far, was the worst performer among the metro area’s Big Three airports in November. According to FlightStats, a mere 50.88 percent of flights arrived on time, within 15 minutes of schedule. Mitigating the impact is the fact that LaGuardia is an “O&D” (orgin and destination) airport. People fly there to get to New York City per se. Few actually connect at LGA.
A lot of them, however, connect over New York Kennedy (JFK) and Newark Liberty (EWR). The former is a major hub (or international gateway) for three U.S. carriers: Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, and discount airline JetBlue. FlightStats says that 69 percent of JFK’s flights got to the gate on time in November.
As for Newark, Continental Airlines’ prime transatlantic hub, the November on-time rate was 61.35 percent.
Out on the West Coast, one of the best-performing big airports for November was Oakland (OAK). A magnet for discount airlines such as Southwest, JetBlue, and ATA, OAK racked up an impressive 83.72 percent on-time arrival rate for the month. In contrast, cross-bay rival San Francisco International (SFO) recorded a 70.05 percent rate.
Two of the best overall best on-time performers in North America belong a pair of Florida airports: Tampa International (TPA) and Orlando International (MCO). TPA’s November on-time was 86.51 percent; Orlando’s was 86.14 percent. Tampa is an airport frequented regularly by Cheapflights’ readers, and Orlando is the gateway to a slew of central Florida entertainment attractions of special interest to Cheapflights’ folks. If these kinds of numbers for these two airports hold up over the holidays it will make more than a few vacations easier.
Of all the country’s connecting hubs, Salt Lake City International (SLC) fared best for the penultimate month of the year. FlightStats says 87.33 percent of Salt Lake’s flights arrived on time. SLC is a major hub for Delta Air Lines.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
