Airline Quality: Who Ranks Number One? –The Latest

By Peter Greenberg

The latest results are in on airline quality. For the 29th year, researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University studied data collected by the U.S. Department of Transportation that looked at on-time arrivals, mishandled baggage, bumping passengers and consumer complaints.

And the winner is Delta Air Lines, followed by JetBlue, Southwest and Alaska Airlines. Frontier came in last, and second to last place was American Airlines. But the really good news is that overall, airlines bumped fewer passengers last year.

Why?

The airlines are paying more passengers to give up their seats before they board flights. And the airlines also have mishandled fewer bags. What’s one reason for that? It’s basic math.

The airlines are actually carrying fewer bags because so many more passengers don’t want to pay the airlines to check them in.

Report Gives US Airlines Lower Marks Across The Board. For The Third Straight Year, Virgin America Led The Rankings

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FILE- In this Nov. 26, 2013, file photo, flights departing from Pittsburgh International Airport... Read more

(AP) — Think flying is getting worse? A pair of university researchers who track the airline business say it's a fact.

More flights are late, more bags are getting lost, and customers are lodging more complaints about U.S. airlines, government data shows. Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State and one of the co-authors of the annual report being released Monday, said passengers already know that air travel is getting worse. "We just got the numbers to prove it."

For the third straight year, Virgin America led the rankings. The niche airline with a limited route network was followed by Virgin America.

Among other findings in the report:

—LATENESS: The percentage of flights that arrived on time fell to 76.2 percent last year from 78.4 percent in 2013. Best: Hawaiian Airlines. Worst: Envoy Air, which operates most American Eagle flights.

—LOST BAGS: The rate of lost, stolen or delayed bags rose 13 percent in 2014. Best: Virgin America. Worst: Envoy. Airlines lose one bag for every 275 or so passengers, but at Envoy, the rate is one lost bag for every 110 passengers, according to government figures.

— OVERBOOKING: The rate of passengers getting bumped from flights rose 3 percent. Best: Virgin America. Worst: a tie, between SkyWest and its ExpressJet subsidiary.

— COMPLAINTS: Consumer complaints to the government jumped 22 percent in 2014. Best: Alaska Airlines. Worst: Frontier.

Regional carriers, which operate flights under names like American Eagle, United Express and Delta Connection, tend to earn the worst marks. They fly smaller planes, so when airlines are forced to cut flights due to bad weather, they ground the regionals first to inconvenience fewer passengers. Envoy Air, which operates most American Eagle flights, finished last in the overall rankings.

But the picture was bleak at the four biggest U.S. airlines too. On-time performance fell and complaint rates rose at American, United, Delta and Southwest. The researchers blamed consolidation through mergers, which has reduced competition.

Headley said airlines performed better in the years after 2001, when travel demand fell and planes were less crowded. Airlines were also losing money. They returned to profitability when the airlines left after mergers limited flights to keep fares up. The average plane is now more than 80 percent full at most airlines, and many flights are oversold.

"They have put the same number of people in fewer airplanes," Headley said in an interview. "Anytime the system ramps up, it goes haywire."

Airlines are ordering new planes and making other investments that they promise will lead to better service. Many of the biggest improvements are targeted at the airlines' most valued customers — those in first-class and business-class sections.

The annual report is now in its 25th year. Headley and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University professor Brent Bowen use information that the airlines submit to the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Annual Consumer Reports Study Ranks US Airlines

Contributed by by Seth Miller

Which airline will provide you the best overall experience in the USA? According to the annual Consumer Reports study the best options for travelers are Virgin America, JetBlue, and Southwest Airlines. Hawaiian Airlines and Alaska Airlines round out the top five and are the only carriers to score above an 80 in the survey. At the other end of the spectrum, Spirit Airlines scored a 50 in this year's poll, a number described by Consumer Reports as "one of the lowest overall scores for any company we've ever rated."

The top airlines all scored high in customer service, baggage handling, and in-flight service. Both JetBlue and Virgin America received high marks for in-flight entertainment as well, despite JetBlue not yet having WiFi available on board (it is expected later this year). Both Virgin America and Southwest do. Virgin America and JetBlue have individual in-seat screens at all seats which customers enjoy.

Towards the bottom of the rankings were all the legacy airlines. Delta topped that group with a score of 71 while United, struggling last year to complete their integration with merger partner Continental, came in at the bottom with a score of 63. Low marks for these airlines were seen in the categories of cabin cleanliness, in-flight entertainment, and seat comfort.

Respondents also complained about flights being more crowded (they are at or near all-time highs across the industry) and cramped seating. With the legacy carriers (and Spirit) having, on average, the least personal space for passengers, it is not surprising that they showed up at the bottom of the list.

Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza took umbrage with the rankings, noting that they ignored the fare paid by travelers. While many Spirit customers in the survey noted they felt constantly "dinged" for more fees, the base fares are often the lowest. Baldanza believes that his airline's passengers are still getting good value given the lower fares.

The rankings of the 11 airlines are based on a survey of more than 16,000 subscribers conducted in February 2013. Those surveyed flew a combined total of more than 31,000 domestic flights.

Photo credit: Virgin America via Shutterstock