JetBlue Worst Airline for Holiday Travel

Hawaiian Airlines tops the list of the best airlines for on-time arrivals

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Jessica Lewis / Getty Images

The Northeastern U.S. is not the best place to be traveling from this holiday season.

Research found that the majority of the most efficient airlines for holiday travel are based on the West Coast, while the popular East Coast airline JetBlue ranked last, according to the data from flight-tracking firm FlightAware and reported by Forbes.

The list of the best and worst airlines for on-time arrivals found that only 6.92% of Hawaiian Airline flights experienced delayed arrivals during the past three years, compared with JetBlue’s 22% of late landings.

Analyzing data for 18 major and regional U.S. airlines over two of the busiest travel periods each year — Thanksgiving and the holiday season between Christmas and New Year — FlightAware looked at arrival delays from 2010 to 2012. The list focused on arrival delays rather than departure delays since airplanes can often make up a late takeoff in the air.

Overall, most airlines have improved Thanksgiving travel with just 12% of late arrivals last year, vs. 19% in 2010. But the winter holiday between Christmas and New Years still hampers flight schedules, with 30% of all flights delayed last year.

Though JetBlue came in last, the now shuttered Comair, a regional carrier for Delta Air Lines, actually ranked worst but closed before the holiday season began in 2012.

[Forbes]