U.S. airline February on-time record worst in 6 years

A JetBlue employee assists a customer at JFK International Airport, February 19, 2007. February, with the service meltdown at JetBlue, was the worst month for U.S. airline on-time performance in more than six years, according to government figures.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - February, with the Valentine's Day service meltdown at JetBlue Airways Corp., was the worst month for U.S. airline on-time performance in more than six years, according to government figures.

The data released on Monday by the Transportation Department's statistics bureau raised fresh questions about industry problems with customer service ahead of the summer travel season, historically the busiest for airlines.

A report from the department earlier this year found that consumer complaints were up in 2006 as U.S. airlines mishandled more than 4 million bags and had other operational problems, despite improved finances.

In February, consumer complaints rose by more than half. The number of mishandled bags increased by more than 100,000 over the February 2006 number. Mishandled bags include luggage that was lost, damaged or placed on the wrong flight.

"The stress in the airline system is across the board. Passengers, airline staff, airline corporations are as stretched as we have ever seen them," said Brent Bowen, dean of the aviation institute at the University of Nebraska-Omaha who co-authors an annual airline quality survey, which also on Monday cited an overall drop in service.

"Seeing declines in industry performance isn't surprising in this environment, and it will be difficult to change the trends we have seen," Bowen said.

Multiple industry performance setbacks have drawn the attention of Congress as well. On Monday, the Senate Commerce Committee said it would hold a hearing on April 11 to review complaints and weigh legislation to force carriers to improve service, especially when facing weather-related delays.

With just 67.2 percent of flights on time in February, airlines posted one of their lowest rankings for performance since the transportation agency started comparable record keeping in the mid-1990s.

Industry on-time performance fared worse on four previous occasions -- twice in 2000 and twice in 1996.

The biggest U.S. airlines and affiliates carried nearly 50 million people in February. It is usually one of the quieter months for air travel but can be one of the worst for weather delays in the Midwest and congested Northeast.

Although airports in the Northeast were hit hard by a mid-month ice storm, especially New York's John F. Kennedy airport where JetBlue is based, Chicago's O'Hare was the worst for late arrivals.

JetBlue, ranked first for complaints received for the month, canceled more than 1,100 flights over several days beginning on February 14, at one point stranding passengers on planes in New York.

JetBlue blamed all of its cancellations for the period on bad weather, according to data it submitted for the government's operating report, which is analyzed by policymakers, consumers and others to judge performance.

But JetBlue has said publicly that a large number of cancellations in the days after the storm were related to company decisions -- not bad weather -- that made the problem worse. For instance, planes and crews were out of position, making it harder for the carrier to return to normal service.

"We take full responsibility for what followed," JetBlue spokeswoman Alison Eshelman said of the airline's struggle to restart its operations after the storm.