Flight cancellations this winter worst in decades

As many stranded fliers suspected, the number of flights canceled this winter was the worst in two decades, according to the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics.

During the first three months of this year, 4.58% of the more than 1.4 million domestic flights scheduled by 14 of the nation's carriers were canceled. That meant 64,419 flights didn't get off the ground.

Flights that weren't scrapped altogether were often delayed during this winter of harsh cold and snowstorms, with the first three months of the year posting an on-time arrival rate of 72.1% — the fourth-lowest in 20 years.

Still, March was an improvement on the month before, coming at the tail end of a dismal winter. In March, 77.6% of flights by the nation's biggest carriers touched down on schedule.That was in comparison with the 70.7% on-time arrival rate in February, but lower than the 79.8% of flights that arrived on time in March of last year.

Of the flights that didn't arrive on time in March, 24.7% of them were late because of weather, as compared with 32.7% in February and 34.1% of delayed flights last March.

While airlines canceled 1.9% of their domestic flights in March, that was far below the 5.5% of flights canceled in February.

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Of the nation's 29 busiest airports, passengers heading to Salt Lake City had the best chance of touching down on time in March with that portal's on-time arrival rate of 85.8%. But those flying to Fort Lauderdale were most likely to be delayed, with that airport posting an on-time arrival rate of 71.6%

When it came to airlines, passengers flying on Hawaiian had the best chance of reaching their destination on time, with 91.6% of the carrier's flights landing on schedule in March, followed by Alaska and Virgin America.

Meanwhile, ExpressJet had the worst performance, with only 70.9% of its flights ! arriving within 15 minutes of the scheduled time. American Eagle and Southwest were also at the bottom, with 73.35% and 72.22% of their flights landing on time, respectively.

Fewer bags were mishandled in March, with 3.68 reports per 1,000 fliers compared with 4.21 in February. But that was an increase over last March, when there were 3.03 reports per 1,000 passengers.

Overall, complaints about mishandled bags are up this year, with 4.43 reports per 1,000 fliers during the first three months of 2014, vs. 3.14 reports per 1,000 passengers during that period in 2013.