According to April 2005 USDOT stats, the combination of CO/DL/NW didn't do so well with their passengers (they rank the 19 largest airlines):

A. highest % of canceled flights (avg = 1.3%):

1) ASA (DL conx partner) 3.8%
3) Comair (DL conx partner) 2.0%
6) Skywest (DL conx partner) 1.8%
7) DL 1.8%
11) COex .8%
12) NW .7%
18) CO .2%

Most total canceled flights:
1) DL 1016
3) ASA 950
4) Skywest 774
6) Comair 641
9) NW 317
16) CO 52

(further break downs of the causes of the delays is available)

CO/NW did much better than DL and partners.

B. Mishandled bags per 1000 passengers (5.18 avg for all):

3) CO 3.05
11) NW 3.72
14) DL 6.51
16) Skywest 8.26
17) Comair 9.83
19) ASA 15.75

CO was good, NW not too bad, DL & friends just poor.

C. Involuntary denied boardings (1.11 avg for all) per 10,000 pax:

6) Skywest .70
11) DL 1.06
12) Comair 1.08
15) NW 1.70
16) ASA 2.68
17) CO 3.01

ASA and CO had problems here...

D. Consumer complaints (there were 504 total):

(AA had the most with 87 and the most "customer service" related ones)

DL 72
NW 46
CO 37
ASA 9
Comair 7
Mesaba 5
Pinnacle 5
Skywest 6

Thats 187 out of 504 or 35.7% of the total complaints - not too bad really.

DL had the most "flight problem," "res/tkt/boarding," and "baggage" related complaints.

NW had the most "oversales, "fares," and "disability" related complaints.

Complaints per 100,000 pax (.79 is the avg):

2) COex .16
5) Skywest .46
7) Comair .63
13) ASA .90
14) NW .94
15) DL .95
17) CO 1.04


DISCLAIMER:

I'm not "for or against" any of these airlines, just presenting the facts to make for some discussion. I just happened to notice the Skytema members didn't rate too well in the latest report...