Is LAX Jammed or Not? Two Studies, Different Conclusions.

Should passengers flying out of LAX this holiday season plan for major delays by bringing blankets and thick novels?

That was the message put out by numerous media reports last week citing an eight-month-old study that found LAX to be one of the nation's worst airports for getting passengers on and off the ground on time. The report seemed to contradict data from the Federal Aviation Administration (and reported in the Nov. 1 Business Journal) showing that delays at LAX tend to be shorter than those at other major airports.

So which is it? As is the way with studies, it all depends on how you look at the numbers.

For December last year, LAX was ranked 23rd among the 30 highest-volume U.S. airports in terms of the percentage of on-time arrivals and departures, according the Airline Quality Rating, a report that was actually released last April by two Midwest academicians.

In that month, 32.2 percent of the arrivals and departures at LAX were delayed. (The FAA considers a flight delayed when it's more than 15 minutes late, it's canceled or it's diverted to another airport.)

A closer look reveals a far less dire situation. It's true that LAX's on-time performance last December was about 10 percentage points below that of smaller airports, like Memphis and Miami, but each handles about one-fourth of the traffic that goes through LAX.

What's more, the average flight at LAX is delayed only 5.5 minutes. Of the 10 busiest airports in the country, only two, Denver (4.3 minutes) and Phoenix (5.3 minutes), have shorter average delays.

Dean Headley, business professor at Wichita State University who prepared the AQR report with Brant Bowen, director of the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, conceded that the data may not be "the best or even the most accurate." But he added that, "It's the most readily available to consumers" since it's based on information the FAA posted on its Web site.

"There are a lot of ways to look at this," Headley said. "If you don't have all the information in front of you, you're playing in the dark. You can still be disappointed."

In any event, says Los Angeles World Airports spokesman Tom Winfrey, there is no need to panic.

"People should think about their experiences to date at LAX," Winfrey said. "At the holidays, there will be some delays, but we do a pretty good job of getting passengers where they want to go."