Agree with all of the observations above. That being said, GA's and pilots interpret the on-time directive quite differently, and not always sensibly: some of them will close out a flight and shut the jetway door even though they KNOW the flight isn't leaving the gate. I've been on flights when the aircraft door was closed and then we sat for half an hour for a baggage handling issue - something the captain and CSR's clearly knew about. And this was an on-time departure?

Most GA's do a good or better job IME, but there are a few really bad apples that give the rest a bad name. I've always wondered why UA management tolerated the bad actors, they're easy to spot (SFO, anyone?) and are largely responsible for UA's low CS ratings.