Alaska Airlines problems out of Anchorage

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Frank Black

Guest
In the most recent DOT report on on-line airline performance, Alaska Airlines flight # 164 from Anchorage to Seattle was late in arriving at Seattle 100% of the time. This was the worst performing flight in the country. Overall, Alaska Airlines on time performance fell to 49.8%. Worst of all major airlines. So watch those tight connections.
 
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Cruizer

Guest
100% late was the worst? That is like bowling a zero. No matter how hard you try, you can not get any worse.
 
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Frank Black

Guest
I flew from San Diego to Vancouver for my Radiance cruise on Alaska Airlines and we were early on both flights. But I know that most airlines tend to cheat a bit to meet on-time targets. As an example, the flight from San Diego to Portland used to be listed as 2 hours and 4 minutes. Now, depending on the flight, they just say 2 hours and 35 minutes for their 7:00AM flight and 2:21 for their 5:30PM flight. Both non-stop.
 
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Cruizer

Guest
I don't think being realistic is cheating. If the airline cannot consistently (at least 80% of the time) finish the flight in 124 minutes, then it should extend the scheduled time so that it can consistently arrive by the scheduled time.

Which would you rather have, an airline claiming it can fly from San Diego to Portland in two hours, but actually takes 2 1/2 hours, or an airline that claims it can fly from San Diego to Portland in 2 1/2 hours, and consistently does make the trip in 2/1/2 hours?

Being realistic is not cheating, it is being realistic.
 
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Frank Black

Guest
I don't totally agree. Some airlines like to advertise that they are the "on-time" airline. They know business and frequent travelers watch for on-time reports. So rather that figure out how to compete fairly in on-time stats (by turning their planes around quickly, smoothing the boarding process, speeding up luggage handling, etc,) they just add time to their schedule. And if they are still late in the stats, they just keep adding time to the schedule. This may be realistic, but it still adds lost time to the traveler.

One thing that Alaska airlines did for my two on time flights was NOT to board the plane by rows. They just just announce the plane is ready to board and everyone just gets on. I asked teh agte agent and she said they learned it is a faster way to board.
 
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