More airlines on time, but Spirit still runs late

DALLAS – If you get on a Spirit Airlines flight, there’s a 50-50 chance that your flight will be late.

Perhaps then it is no surprise that Spirit has the highest complaint rate of any major U.S. airline.

Spirit, a low-fare, high-fees carrier with a clientele of mostly leisure travelers, had by far the worst on-time performance in June among 14 airlines tracked in a government report. Only 49.9 percent of its flights arrived within 15 minutes of schedule, which is the government’s definition of being on time.

It was the worst on-time performance by a major airline in 10 years.

Spirit declined to make an executive available for an interview. In a statement emailed to the Associated Press, spokesman Paul Berry blamed canceled flights on weather, which he said had an impact “because of where these storms hit, our fleet size, and our network.”

Spirit had the second-highest rate of canceled flights in June. Berry wrote that with better weather lately, “our operations are back to normal.”

United Airlines had the second-worst on-time rating, at 66.3 percent. “It wasn’t the performance we like to provide for our customers,” said spokesman Charlie Hobart. He said maintenance issues and bad weather – thunderstorms at one of United’s hub airports on 25 different days, he said – contributed to the delays.

Overall, airlines covered by the U.S. Department of Transportation report operated 74.8 percent of their flights on time in June, up from 71.8 percent in June 2014.

Hawaiian Airlines, which benefits from short flights in mostly good weather, finished on top, with 90.5 percent landing on time, followed by Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America, which all beat 80 percent.

Spirit performed poorly at nearly all airports it serves but was worst in Philadelphia, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and Detroit, where on-time percentages were in the 30s.

On six routes, the Spirit delays averaged more than two hours.

Spirit’s on-time rating was the worst since June 2005, when Alaska Airlines posted a 49.8 percent mark.