A bumpy ride for Thanksgiving air travel
Flying got off to a strong start for the holiday period, but slowed to a crawl due to bad weather, says FlightStats.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Air travel over the Thanksgiving holiday started smoothly but finished on a sour note thanks to bad weather, the airline research group FlightStats reported on Wednesday.
Flying throughout the U.S. "started out looking very, very good" during the Tuesday to Friday, Nov. 25 to 28 time period, according to the group. During this four-day span, flights arrived on schedule over 80% of the time. The on-time rate peaked on Thursday and Friday, exceeding 90% and outperforming the industry's record for the last two years.
But on the Saturday and Sunday following Thanksgiving, "Mother Nature stepped in to deal a humbling blow, and exposed the vulnerability of the U.S. commercial air travel system to weather," said the research group.
"Travelers who waited until Sunday for their return trips experienced a truly dismal travel day as heavy rain and snow caused delays in the upper Midwest and Northeast and long delays rippled through the entire system."
FlightStats, which is owned by Conducive Technology, a provider of travel information provider based in Portland, Ore., monitors 99.98% of all North American flights and more than 75% of international flights, basing its data on government, airline and airport sources.
The report found that the average success rate for on-time arrivals began to decline on Saturday, and then plunged below 50% on Sunday.
"Excessive" delays of at least 45 minutes soared up to 29% on Sunday, which was the only day during the Nov. 25 to Nov. 30 period when the percentage of late arrivals reached the double-digits, said FlightStats. The group described four-and-a-half hour delays as "commonplace" on Sunday.
In contrast, only 3% of flights were delayed on Thanksgiving Day and Friday, the information group said.
Some analysts had expected heavy delays for the Thanksgiving holiday as a result of capacity cuts, but those were offset the overall decline in travel because of the economic crisis.
FlightStats said that Boston's Logan International Airport was the most delayed on Tuesday, Nov. 25, followed by LaGuardia Airport in New York City. On Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 26 and 27, San Francisco International Airport saw the most delays.
Friday was a generally good day for all airports, FlightStats said. But on the weather-crippled weekend of Nov. 29 and 30, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport was dead last for on-time arrivals, with an on-time success rate of 29% on Saturday and 12% on Sunday, according to the group.
Throughout the six-day Thanksgiving travel period, Salt Lake City International Airport emerged as the most efficient destination, with 91% of its flights arriving on time, according to the report.
Other top performers included Oakland International Airport in California, Memphis International Airport in Tennessee, Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Dallas Fort Worth International and Detroit Metropolitan Wayne Country Airport. 
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