Consumerist: skywest

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)

The 10 Worst Flights: Avoid These Regularly Scheduled Travel Nightmares

Meg Marco — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:57:21 EDT

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the following flights are the 10 worst flights in existence. They're regularly scheduled and they are late 92-100% of the time. Avoid them like you avoid drug-resistant TB.

Now, on to the flights!

US Airways Flight 1543
From:BOS-CLT
Departs: 6:35 pm
Percentage late: 100.00%
Average Minutes Delayed: 53

Comair Flight 5463
From JFK-BUF
Departs 6:52 pm
Percentage late: 96.67%
Average Minutes Delayed: 75

SkyWest Flight 2570
From: CMH-MKE
Departs: 8:55 pm
Percentage late: 96.15%
Average Minutes Delayed: 42

US Airways Flight 1582
From: CLT-EWR
Departs: 3:45 pm
Percentage late: 95.83%
Average Minutes Delayed: 67

Comair Flight 5625
From JFK-JAX
Departs 5:35 pm
Percentage late: 93.75%
Average Minutes Delayed: 79

US Airways Flight 656
From: DCA-PHX
Departs: 4:39 pm
Percentage late: 93.75%
Average Minutes Delayed: 71

US Airways Flight 619
From: ATL-LAS
Departs: 9:47 pm
Percentage late: 93.75%
Average Minutes Delayed: 42

JetBlue Flight 1606
From: JFK-PWM
Departs: 5:40 pm
Percentage late: 93.33%
Average Minutes Delayed: 60

American Airlines Flight 1639
From: JFK-SJU
Departs: 7:05 pm
Percentage late: 93.33%
Average Minutes Delayed: 54

Comair Flight 4997
From: ORF-JFK
Departs: 7:00 pm
Percentage late: 92.86
Average Minutes Delayed: 95

There you have it folks, the 10 worst regularly scheduled flights in existence as of April 2007.

In other news, only 63% of all US Airways flights were on time in April, so if you're looking for a handy cheat-sheet to avoiding late flights: Avoid US Airways. —MEGHANN MARCO

Air Travel Consumer Reports [Bureau of Transportation Statistics]
(Photo: Drewski2112)

Dear Passenger: We're Sorry You Had to Piss in the Barf Bag

consumerintern — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 18:08:03 EDT

SkyWest Airlines has apologized to passenger James Whipple, who used a barf bag to relieve himself in-flight.

The reason: They had prohibited him — and all other passengers — from using the airplane's lone toilet because (wait for it...) a light was out and they didn't want to delay the flight in order to replace it.

Mr. Whipple, who had enjoyed "two really big beers" at the Salt Lake City Airport, was apparently remarkably discreet: "No other passengers noticed Whipple using the bag, but a flight attendant asked him about it and told the captain, who called airport police."

What tipped off the flight attendant? The sighs of relief? The shouts of "Whoo!" and "Shake and bake!" perhaps? (We're speculating here.)

The airline, which provides commuter-jet service to Delta, apologized afterward, and gave him a voucher. Good luck cashing that in, Mr. Whipple!

As an aside: Thumbs up to USA Today for using the phrase "two 'really big beers'" not once, but twice in their article, to describe the source of the urine. — MARK ASHLEY

Passenger who urinated in air-sickness bag gets apology from airline [USA Today]