After arriving in New York City at 6 a.m., tired, irritable and in a mood to complain, our Savvy Traveler decided to publish an essay critical of inflated flight itineraries (Nov. 11), presumably because they are, he feels, misleading. Improved on-time performance statistics do not actually indicate improved performance, he complains; rather, the airlines have merely lessened their standards by padding their schedules.
But the Department of Transportation does not command that airlines report on-time performance based on last decade's schedules, nor is it concerned about maintaining those schedules. The purpose of reporting and the subsequent ranking is to encourage realistic scheduling and, thus, reliability.
