Southwest Rapid Rewards - Southwest Airlines' on-time performance record is slipping

Southwest Airlines' on-time performance record is slipping. New routes into crowded Northeastern markets, notorious for air-traffic-control delays, have hurt the low-fare airline's punctuality figures.

The latest numbers from the US Department of Transportation (DOT) rank Southwest fifth among the 10 major carriers in on-time performance in the 12-month period ending in September.

The airline posted an on-time rate of 77.5 percent in the 12-month period. That's down from an average of 82.8 percent since the ratings began in 1987.
http://news.airwise.com/stories/2000/11/975233264.html

Read on, doc, they're 5th in PHX, of all places. Don't think there are too many weather delays at Sky Harbor.

I've noticed that they've begun to pad their schedule a bit, adding 5-10 minutes on to the usual 50 minute BWI-PVD route to a scheduled 1:10 to 1:15, depending on time of day. The schedule used to be 1:00 to 1:10.

I have timed the deplaning and boarding with full flights. Using only 1 door in front, it takes 7-8 minutes to unload a full flight. Add a couple of minutes to clean up the plane, 3-5 minutes for pre-boards, and about 10 minutes to board the rest of a full flight, it is essentially impossible to turn around 2 full flights in less than 22-23 minutes. The schedules often have a gate turnaround of 15-20 minutes.

I still don't understand why they don't use the back door. I know you can't get a jetway to the back door the way things are currently positioned, but someone should be clever enough to solve this problem. And most people in the back would be willing to go down and up some steps to get off more quickly. Also, if they boarded from the rear door, it would be a lot faster, since nearly everyone wants a front seat and the aisles would be left a lot clearer. Just a few thoughts -- but I realize someone must have thought about all of this and rejected it for a reason.

I have also timed a full deplaning/full emplaning. On a 137 seat aircraft, it took exactly 25 minutes. On the 737-200s and 500s it could be a little quicker as they seat 122, although gate checking typically starts with the second boarding group on the smaller planes with the smaller overheads. I have also noticed a greater number of flights with a scheduled 25 minute turnaround (I check the monitors).

Southwest does not typically clean the cabin between legs. The lavs were cleaned during boarding on my recent HOU-LAX with a stop in PHX.

Southwest began testing a dual jetway on DAL-AUS flights in the spring of this year.
http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2000/05/22/story5.html
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