Consumerist: atlantic southeast

The Ultimate Airline Bankruptcy And Merger Cheat Sheet

Meg Marco — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 08:51:00 EDT

Thinking of taking a trip but can't remember which airlines are bankrupt and which ones are part of Delta? We know it can be difficult—that's why we've put together a little cheat sheet to help you get through this time of uncertainty.

We've listed most of the major airlines and their regional affiliates. We've indicated whether the airlines are now defunct, part of Delta, recently bankrupt, or possibly looking for love with another airline. Regional airlines are marked with their affiliates' logos. Watch out Continental... we think United has her eye on you. Enjoy!

5 Airlines You Shouldn't Trust With Your Luggage

Meg Marco — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:59:47 EST

The Department of Transportation's 2007 Air Travel Consumer Report is out. Here are the 5 airlines with the most baggage handling complaints per customer in 2007. Better luck next year!

5. MESA AIRLINES (operates flights for Delta Airlines, United Airlines, USAirways and Midwest Airlines)

4. SKYWEST AIRLINES (operates flights for United Express, Delta Connection and Midwest Connect)

3. ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST AIRLINES (operated by Delta Airlines)

2. COMAIR (operated by Delta Airlines)

1. AMERICAN EAGLE AIRLINES (operated by American Airlines)

Air Travel Consumer Report (PDF) [DOT]
(Photo:Cubbie_N_Vegas)

American Airlines Baggage Chief: "There's A Lot Of Opportunity For Failure"

Meg Marco — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 11:07:56 EST

The New York Times is taking a look at American Airlines' recent effort to improve their checked baggage operation. Who would have thought that dirty printers were causing lost baggage?

Workers at American found that printers that produce adhesive tags for bags were often dirty. That made bar codes hard to read, leading to misdirected bags. Regular wiping of the printer heads helped, but even with a clean printer, the bar code readers are only about 90 to 92 percent accurate, said Denise P. Wilewski, manager of airport services for American here.
"We never hit 100 percent — 90 percent is acceptable," she said.

The Times says that lost baggage is getting worse. Fewer airline employees are handling more bags, and planes are staying on the ground for less time—making it more likely that bags will be "mishandled."

"There's a lot of opportunity for failure," said Hans Hauck, manager of baggage operations at American's headquarters in Fort Worth. Since Mr. Hauck started his job in September 2006, American has not met its bag-handling goal in any month. As of late last week, though, Mr. Hauck remained optimistic that he would make his November number. A look at American's bag-handling operation, which is the biggest of all United States carriers, shows it is making lots of little improvements but still losing ground.

Small regional airlines lose bags more frequently than the big guys they're affiliated with, so it might be wise to avoid checking bags when you know your carrier might be Atlantic Southeast (Delta) or American Eagle (American.) Or, if you can, avoid checking your bag at all! Travel light. It's better than it sounds.

Travelers' Odds Decline on Airline Baggage [New York Times]
(Photo:Ben Popken)

Delta's Atlantic Southeast Airlines Is America's Worst Airline

Meg Marco — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 14:52:56 EST

The Department of Transportations Air Travel Consumer Report was released Monday and it confirms what we've all been thinking: Delta's Atlantic Southeast Airlines is just stunningly terrible.

Tardiness Issues:

Atlantic Southeast is now dead last among the major carriers in on-time arrival percentage at 63.4%. That's 10 percentage points worse than the next airline on the list, Alaska Airlines (73.3%), but still an improvement from earlier this summer when they were on-time only 54.2% of the time.

Of the major carriers, Atlantic Southeast had the most flights that were late 70% or more of the time. They had 24. The next carrier on the list only had 4. Continental, American Eagle, Mesa, JetBlue, Frontier and a few others had 0.

Atlantic Southeast tied Pinnacle for the airline that canceled the highest percentage of flights at 2.4% For example, Atlantic Southeast canceled 449 more flights than Northwest Airlines, which is twice as big, and loves to cancel flights.

Did Your Mother Give You A Note?:

So why are they so terrible? Do they have an excuse? Weather? Airport delays? Apparently not. According to the report, they lead all airlines in "Air Carrier Delays" with 18.84% of delays caused by... themselves. That's 10 percentage points more than any other airline.

The DOT defines "Air Carrier Delay" as: "The cause of the cancellation or delay was due to circumstances within the airline's control (e.g. maintenance or crew problems, etc.)." Among all airlines the rate of "Air Carrier Delay" is only 5.25%.

Watch Out For Falling Luggage:

So, can you trust them with your baggage? No. Aside from the fact that they recently had a cargo bay door open mid-air, raining luggage down on Chicagoland, they also lead all airlines with the most mishandled baggage claims per passenger in September. (10.54 reports per every 1,000 passengers.)

All This and Overbooking, Too:

Surely they're not last in "overbooking," too? Of course they are. Dead last. Atlantic Southeast denied boarding to 4.11 out of every 10,000 passengers from July-Sep of this year.

Driving Us To Drink:

Why are they so bad? Is it because their flight attendants show up drunk? Or are the flight attendants showing up drunk because Atlantic Southeast is so bad? It's like the chicken and the egg, isn't it?

Tell us, why is Atlantic Southeast so bad?

Air Travel Consumer Report [DOT]
(Photo:Drewski2112)

Delta Flight Attendant Comes To Work Drunk

Meg Marco — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 14:15:01 EDT

Sarah Mills, 26, a flight attendant for Delta operator Atlantic Southeast Airlines, was thrown off her flight for showing up to work drunk.

Delta canceled the flight after not enough crew members could be located to operate the plane. Mills was arrested and has been charged with operating a motor vehicle under the influence, alcohol intoxication and terroristic threatening, after she told the captain "you're dead," as she was escorted out of the plane and placed onto a stretcher.

Mills is currently in the Fayette County, KY jail. And yes, apparently "terroristic threatening" is a real crime. Good job, Delta. This regional carrier represents your brand well.

Flight Cancelled; Police Say Flight Attendant Was Drunk [WKYT]

Flight attendant arrested; allegedly drunk on plane [WHAS] (Thanks, Jay!)

(Photo:WKYT)