The snow and ice storms that gave North Texas its white Christmas caused more than a dozen American Airlines and American Eagle flights to sit on the tarmac at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport for over three hours, according to a government report released Tuesday.
Nine Eagle and five American Airlines flights sat at DFW for 180 minutes or more.The longest delay affected Eagle Flight 3361, which arrived from Baton Rouge, La., and was parked on the taxiway for more than 41/2 hours.The Transportation Department said it is investigating all the delays, which could lead to fines of up to $27,500 per passenger since people were kept on the tarmac beyond the three-hour rule.In its monthly on-time report, the department said domestic airlines posted an 81.85 percent on-time rate for 2012, the third-highest in 18 years.There were 42 tarmac delays longer than three hours in 2012, down from 50 in 2011.For December, carriers posted an on-time rate of 76.6 percent, led by Hawaiian Airlines, with a 93.3 percent rate.Frontier Airlines had the worst rate, at 62.7 percent.American Airlines ranked ninth with an on-time rate of 75.2 percent while Southwest Airlines and American Eagle tied for 10th at 73.9 percent.Airlines canceled 1.6 percent of their domestic schedule in December, up from 0.8 percent in the same month a year earlier.The industry also mishandled more luggage, as the rate rose to 4.15 reports per 1,000 passengers in December, up from 3.22 the previous December.The Transportation Department also received 901 complaints in December from travelers, up 26.7 percent from December 2011.Andrea Ahles, 817-390-7631Twitter: @Sky_Talk
How did they do?
On-time arrival rates for U.S. carriers in December
| Rk. Carrier | Pct. |
| 1. Hawaiian Airlines | 93.3 |
| 2. Delta Air Lines | 85.4 |
| 3. Alaska Airlines | 83.3 |
| 4. US Airways | 82.9 |
| 5. Mesa Airlines | 81.9 |
| 6. AirTran Airways | 81.4 |
| 7. Virgin America | 80.5 |
| 8. United Airlines | 78.4 |
| 9. American Airlines | 75.2 |
| 10. Southwest Airlines | 73.9 |
| 10. American Eagle | 73.9 |
| 12. SkyWest Airlines | 72.9 |
| 13. ExpressJet Airlines | 71.2 |
| 14. JetBlue Airways | 70.2 |
| 15. Frontier Airlines | 62.7 |
| Total | 76.6 |
Source: Bureau of Transportation Statistics
Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
