Alaska Airlines in September was the most punctual major North American carrier,

delivering more than 89 percent of its flights to the gate within 15 minutes of schedule, according to FlightStats. In sharp contrast was American Airlines, which in September was plagued by operational difficulties and delivered only 59 percent of its flights on time. On average, North American airlines last month posted an 80.5 percent on-time rating. Delta Air Lines (88.8 percent), US Airways (87.2 percent), Southwest Airlines (86.3 percent), JetBlue Airways (82.9 percent) and United Airlines (80.8 percent) performed above average. Air Canada (68.6 percent) and American Airlines brought down the curve.