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By Joe Kleinsasser

If you plan on flying to grandmother’s house for the holidays, you probably should pack extra patience.

Travelers can expect airline performance to be lower in December for all major U.S. airlines, according to co-researchers of the national Airline Quality Rating,

"I don’t want to sound like Scrooge, but it’s no secret that airline quality is lower in December," said Dean Headley, WSU associate professor of marketing at and co-author of the AQR. "Unfortunately, there’s no reason to believe that airline quality during the 1999 holidays will be any better than last year since the airline system will be stressed by peak demand, uncertain weather and Y2K anxieties."

The good news for airlines is that most seats will be filled with customers paying higher fares. The bad news is consumers will likely complain in record numbers about the poor service.

If airline performance during the last quarter of 1998 is any indication, US Airways will do the best job overall of providing quality service this holiday season. US Airways was ranked number one overall for 1998 by the AQR.

Also performing above the industry average during the last quarter of 1998 were Continental, Delta, Southwest, American, Northwest and America West.

Airlines with a lower AQR score than the industry average during the last quarter of 1998 were TWA, United and Alaska.

Headley said some air travelers may benefit from the hectic holiday season.

"You might find some advantages by allowing yourself to be bumped from a flight. If you have the time and can afford to be bumped, collect some free tickets or vouchers for tickets for future flights," Headley suggested.

"If you’re going to travel during the holidays, make sure you go prepared. You should expect some delays to occur. Take some water and food along and be prepared for possibly an overnight stay at an airport. It may very well happen."

The on-time arrival performance at 30 major airports was worse in December than November last year. Somewhat surprisingly, travelers were more likely to arrive on time at JFK airport in New York City than any other airport in December with an on-time arrival percentage of 83.3 percent. Cincinnati was close behind at 83 percent followed by Minneapolis/St. Paul at 82.4 percent.

Odds were only slightly better than 50/50 for a plane to arrive on-time at the Seattle airport in December. The next worst was San Francisco at 63.6 percent and Portland at 64 percent.

Headley and Brent Bowen, a former WSU faculty member now with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, announce the annual quality rating for the nation’s 10 major airlines every April. The AQR, as an industry standard, compares quality among airlines using objective performance-based data.