Your Delta acronym (Doesn’t Ever Leave The Airport) actually highlights the problem with these stats. I have no doubt that Delta can rightfully claim the ‘highest percentage of ontime departures in the industry’ but what they call ‘ontime departure’ means that the doors are closed at the gate (or perhaps that it has pushed off from the gate).... it doesn’t actually mean the plane has just departed off the end of the runway or that its wheels are no longer in contact with terra firma.
This has frustrated me on many flights. Here’s but one example..... once I ran like stink to make a Delta connecting flight (I think it was Cincinnati) only to arrive at the gate to find the plane just sitting there. Oh... it was an ontime departure all right. The plane just sat there for about 20 minutes or so without moving while I was standing not more than about 100 feet away but with no way to get on to the plane. It made me wonder how many other passengers were left in the lurch because of Delta insistance on making such a big fuss about their ‘highest ontime departure’ stats.
I would rather a plane leave a little late than arrive early any day ofthe year