United, Southwest virtually tied for best on-time rate of DIA’s big 3 airlines

United Airlines and Southwest Airlines finished almost neck and neck for the best on-time arrival rate among Denver International Airport’s three biggest airlines in November.

United — DIA’s No. 1 carrier — posted an 89.2 percent on-time rate at DIA in November, while Southwest — the airport’s No. 2 carrier — arrived on time 89.1 percent of the time, the U.S. Department of Transportation says in its monthly Air Travel Consumer Report.

Frontier Airlines, the No. 3 carrier, lagged its DIA big 3 rivals with an 85.6 percent on-time arrival rate.

United, Frontier and Southwest account for three-quarters of DIA passenger traffic, so the Denver Business Journal focuses on their on-time performance each month.

Of all airlines serving DIA, large and small, AirTran Airways posted November’s best on-time rate: 94.2 percent. AirTran is in the process of merging operations with Southwest for now is tallied separately.

American Airlines had the worst on-time performance at the airport: 76.3 percent.

DIA’s average on-time rate for the month was 87.6 percent.

DOT considers a flight arriving within 15 minutes of its scheduled arrival to be on time.

Nationwide, at all major airports, Hawaiian Airlines had November’s best on-time rate: 94.1 percent. American finished last at 79.6 percent. The norm was 85.7 percent.

Weather, airport operations and other factors not under an airline’s control can play a role in a carrier’s on-time rate.

The report also covers November’s passenger complaints against 15 major airlines nationwide.

Southwest had the month’s lowest complaint rate: 0.16 per 100,000 passengers.

Mark Harden is print and digital content editor for the Denver Business Journal and writes for the "Broadway & 17th" blog. Email: mharden@bizjournals.com. Phone: 303-803-9227.