NY-DC: The flight that's never on time

Today's Washington Post examines the effects of congestion on short-haul airline service in the East--specifically Delta flight 5283, operated by Comair. "Its average delay: 1 hour and 19 minutes. Actual flying time: 53 minutes."

Your conductor liked this passage, which concluded the piece:

Susan Cypra, a 37-year-old consultant, was on Washington-bound Delta Connection Flight 5283 on Tuesday. She took the same flight a month ago, and it was an hour late, she said.

At first, she said, the flight seemed like a good deal: It left at a convenient time and cost less than comparable trips out of New York's other airport, La Guardia.

But as she sat on the cramped commuter jet and listened to the pilot announce there were 25 planes ahead of them for takeoff, Cypra began to reconsider her decision to fly the country's least punctual flight.

She quickly did the math in her head: The cost and time of a cab ride to the airport, and then time lost in security, waiting at the gate, lingering on the taxiway and finally getting into the air. She arrived in Washington at 8:22 p.m., 50 minutes after the scheduled arrival, according to the airport monitors.

"I'm not going to take this plane again," Cypra concluded as she left the airport. "I'm going to take the train."