I’m a big fan of data. The more data, the better. Data helps us make better decisions which usually saves time, money, or all of the above.
Data about the airlines help travelers, like myself, vote with our feet (and our money). As I grow increasingly more disillusioned about airline point programs (I’ll write about the ridiculous terms of point programs later), I have less issues with dropping a bad airlines, regardless of my status, and switching over to an entirely new one.
Currently, I’m booking one way flights on United to my destination, but flying back on Southwest. The return flight has become SO BAD with delays and cancellations on United it’s worth it for me to not have a reserved seat JUST so I can actually get home at a reasonable time. It actually angers me as a traveler with Premium Executive (missed 1K by a few segments last year) to deal with the same delayed flight every single %#^!&! week. United doesn’t seem to care. Southwest is on-time every week. I can get home while it’s actually daylight outside. It’s wonderful.
Anyways, I digress. If you want to know if a flight will likely be delayed before you have to experience it, then check out The Aviation Consumer Protection website for detailed data on flights.
Here’s some interesting information for April 2007:
Percentage of On-time Arrivals (Top is better)
Reasons for Delay
Props to the Consumerist for highlighting this resource.