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For the first time in my life (I think) I 100% agree with John C. Dvorak. His recent post on Alaska Airlines is 100% spot on.

"Meanwhile, and as I said, I avoid flying Alaska anywhere. The Alaska Airlines on-time thing has gotten to be ridiculous. The last 10 times I've flown them half were late, often by hours. I now fly Southwest which is hardly ever late."

Similar to the experiences I've blogged about here and here.

Want to know how bad they are? Via the Airline On-Time Statistics site:

For all flights to SFO on Alaska for 2005:

1,892 flights on time.

562 delayed by an average of 55.21 minutes for 92.34 minutes of flight time.

For All Alaska Airline flights for 2005:

63,481 flights on time.

16,850 delayed by an average of 52.45 minutes on take off and 54.97 minutes on arrival for an average of 123.90 minutes flight time.

That means that I have a 25% chance of getting home on time. I travel once a month to Seattle, for 24 flights a year. That means that I'm delayed about 7 times a year. On average.

Update: I found this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

Alaska Airlines was the worst airline in the nation for on-time arrivals and departures in May, according to a federal transportation report.

The Seattle-based carrier was last among 20 major domestic airlines in May for on-time performance, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation's monthly report.

Alaska Airlines planes left or arrived on schedule only 59 percent of the time during May and ranked next to last for on-time performance over the last 12 months ending in May, the report said.