The U.S. airline industry's poor on-time performance continued in August with nearly 30 percent of flights delayed, according to government data that comes less than a week after President George W. Bush promised to help fix the problem. The country's 20 largest airlines reported an on-time arrival rate of 71.1 percent in August, down from 75.8 percent a year ago, the Transportation Department said Wednesday. Through August, more than 25 percent of flights have arrived late-the industry's worst on-time performance since data began being collected in 1995. Customer complaints nearly doubled in August to 1,634 compared with 864 in the same month last year, according to government data. However, the rates of mishandled baggage fell to about 7.6 reports per 1,000 passengers from 8.1 reports a year ago.
