"We're shooting for actually perfect on-time performance, but we understand the realities of the holiday travel season,” US Airways spokesman Morgan Durrant said on Friday.
The nation’s sixth largest carrier said in an employee newsletter said that they are aiming to push back 60 percent of their 3,500 daily flights on time over the holiday season. That means that nearly 1,400 flights would not push back on time.
The airline says that some flights will not push back on time but planes can make up that time in the air and arrive within 15 minutes of their scheduled arrival giving them an on-time arrival.
So far US Airways has had an on-time arrival rate of 80 percent but the month has been a fairly quite weather month. Last year the carrier only achieved a 53 percent on-time arrival rate. But US Airways believes that 60 percent is an achievable goal given holiday traffic and possible weather delays.
Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, an advocacy group said, “Really lower your expectations and build a lot of time into it, because it's going to be ugly in certain circumstances.”
Call ahead, arrive early, and check the FAA.gov website for delays, prohibited items onboard and various other items to expedite the entire process. The holiday season does not necessarily mean that there will be more people flying but more people flying with children, family members or those who rarely fly. So be prepared!
MSNBC.com
» US Airways Says Thanksgiving Holiday a Good Weekend from TheAirlineHub
An update from last weeks story regarding US Airways and on-time performance over the Thanksgiving Holiday In an attempt to turn passenger’s sentiment from a negative image to that of a positive one, US Airways (LCC) released preliminary results... [Read More]
Tracked on: November 28, 2007 2:34 PM | Permalink to Trackback