US: Flight cancellations, baggage problems fall to historic lows

Airlines cancelled 1.17% of scheduled domestic flights last year, the best performance in the 22 years the government has been tracking the issue, the US DoT said Tuesday. The department also said air carriers are losing or misplacing luggage at the lowest rate since 1987, when the government began collecting data. Airlines are also bumping passengers, or involuntarily preventing ticketed passengers from flying, at a record-low rate. The cancellation rate was a significant improvement over the 1.5% of flights cancelled in 2015 and fell below the previous low of 1.24% in 2002. Cancellation rates vary with weather and other issues. In December, carriers canceled 1.6% of their scheduled domestic flights, compared with 0.3% in November. In 2016, the carriers had a mishandled baggage rate of 2.70 per 1,000 passengers, down from 3.13 per 1,000 in 2015. Air carriers bumped 0.62 per 10,000 passengers in 2016, compared with a 0.73 rate in 2015. It was the lowest annual rate since 1995 when the government began tracking the issue. Airlines reported an on-time arrival rate of 81.4%, up from 79.9% in 2015. A flight is counted as "on time" if it is operated less than 15 minutes after the scheduled time.<br/>