JetBlue scores poorly in February, as expected

JetBlue Airways was able to complete just 57.4% of its flights on time in February, ranking 19^th out of 21 airlines tracked by the Department of Transportation -- which isn’t news to anyone who was on one of its tarmac-stuck jets the week of Valentine’s Day.

In fact, the DOT recorded more complaints per passenger for JetBlue in February than any other airline.

JetBlue completed 68.6% of its flights in the last three months of 2006, about the same as in February 2007.

The DOT said that in February, 10% of JetBlue’s regularly scheduled flights were delayed 70% of the time, the poorest record of any airline that month. The airline also had 9.2% of its operations canceled in February.

The bright spot: JetBlue “bumped” the lowest rate of passengers in all of 2006.

Some other nuggets, according to the DOT’s report on April 2:

• U.S. Airways flight 154 from Philadelphia to San Francisco, scheduled to depart at 8:10 a.m., was late 100% of the time. Its 17 flights in February departed an average of 61 minutes late.
• 3 of the top 10 most delayed flights in February were scheduled to leave Newark, N.J., heading for Charlotte-Douglas.
• A little over half, or 53.1% of Northwest’s 452 arrivals in February at LAX were on time.
• For all carriers at Newark airport, arrivals were considered "on time" just 52.6% of the time.