The U.S. airline industry improved overall punctuality in October 2007

versus a year earlier but suffered more cancellations and delays than in September 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Frontier Airlines again had the best on-time rate among major carriers (84.4 percent), followed by Southwest Airlines (82.2 percent) and Delta Air Lines (80.7 percent). Alaska Airlines (70.1 percent), United Airlines (74.4 percent) and Northwest Airlines (74.7 percent) ranked at the bottom of the pack. As a group, the 20 largest U.S. carriers posted a lower mishandled baggage rate in October than a year earlier and a month earlier, but consumers recorded a higher number of complaints than during both September 2007 and October 2006.