The reason, the airline said, is that customers expect and deserve dependability, and on-time departures are necessary for achieving that result.

Don't rely on them for an on-time departure.

The best airports for on-time departures: Houston Intercontinental, Tampa and Denver.

Even so, on-time departures are made on a very high proportion of flights.

"The question for us is how far can we go in security measures and still have on-time departures," he said.

And the airport gets high marks for on-time departures: 80-plus percent in the latest Transportation Department annual reporting period.

All the airlines say boarding by row, from the rear forward, is essential for on-time departure, because it means people are not squeezing past each other.

The system average for on-time departures was 42 percent in 1987, 59 percent in 1988, 90 percent in 1989 and 96 percent last year.

Technically, he admitted, there was enough time, but since British Airways was committed to "on-time departures," the plane's doors would be closing early.

Cancellations are down 60 percent and on-time departures have improved by 40 percent from the darkest days of the summer.