Air travelers see more delays

Flights operated by the nation’s largest airlines arrived on time at a lower rate this past October than in either October of last year or in Sept. 2009, according to the “Air Travel Consumer Report” released by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT).

According to information filed with the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), the 19 carriers reporting on-time performance recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 77.3 percent in October, a lower rate than both Oct. 2008′s 86 percent and Sept. 2009′s 86.2 percent.

The carriers canceled 1 percent of their scheduled domestic flights, higher than the 0.6 percent cancellation rate posted in both Oct. 2008 and Sept. 2009.

The carriers filing on-time performance data reported that .002 percent of their scheduled flights had tarmac delays of three hours or more, up from .001 percent in 
September.