The Newest Ranking Of The World's Best Airlines Is Here

The annual Airline Excellence Awards and the top 25 airlines in the world ranking from AirlineRatings.com is here, with a few US airlines named among the group.

"We are focused on leadership and airlines that innovate to make a real difference to the passenger experience," AirlineRatings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas said in a statement. "Of course right now the airline industry is under unprecedented pressure as it strives to recover from the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine with significant disruptions to passengers."

Here are the top 25 airlines:

1. Air New Zealand (picture credit)

2. Qatar Airways 3. Etihad Airways
4. Korean Air

5. Singapore Airlines

6. Qantas

7. Virgin Australia / Virgin Atlantic

8. EVA Air

9. Cathay Pacific Airways

10. Emirates

11. Lufthansa / Swiss

12. SAS

13. TAP Portugal
14. All Nippon Airways

15. Delta Air Lines

16. Air Canada

17. British Airways

18. JetBlue

19. JAL

20. Vietnam Airlines

21. Turkish Airlines

22. Hawaiian

23. KLM

24. Alaska Airlines

25. United Airlines

In order to even qualify for any ranking on the above list, the standards are high. First, an airline must have a seven-star safety rating. To achieve this, airlines must meet a comprehensive and complex set of criteria evaluated by AirlineRatings.com. This year’s number-one airline, Air New Zealand, made it to the top spot because of its cabin innovation of beds for economy class passengers, passenger service, and the rapid recovery the airline made from COVID-related disruptions. Air New Zealand ranked second to Qatar Airways last year.

“Air New Zealand's commitment to excellence in all facets of its business starts at the top with outstanding governance and one of the best executive teams in aviation through to a workforce that is delivering consistently to the airline’s strategy and customer promise," Thomas continued in the statement. "Like all airlines across the globe Air New Zealand has faced severe disruptions during and after the pandemic and this year huge challenges from storms and cyclones. The airline has responded well."

In response to the ranking, Air New Zealand CEO Greg Foran told Thrillist in an emailed statement that the airline owed its success "to the dedication and hard work of our 12,000 Air New Zealanders who wake each morning to connect Kiwis with each other and the world. This award belongs to them for their grit, commitment, and the exceptional service they deliver every day.

"As with many airlines worldwide, we understand that our fantastic team faces difficulties in providing the service we strive for and that our customers expect, Foran continued. "We're working hard to address these challenges,” Foran continued. There is no doubt that we have more work to do to tackle customer concerns like wait times, on-time departures and arrivals, lost baggage, and refunds. We want to thank our customers for their patience and support as we work towards delivering the greatest flying experience on Earth."
I personally hope more airlines follow Air New Zealand’s example and create more creature comforts for economy passengers. Right now, flying in international economy feels like being squished into a tin can alongside a bunch of other sweaty beings and being jostled around.

By Opheli Garcia Lawler

U.S. Airlines With The Best And Worst Customer Service [Data Study]

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AIRLINE GUIDES

Whenever you decide to book a plane ticket, you place yourself in the hands of an airline that will determine your entire traveling experience. You rely on a slew of professionals to do their jobs effectively and get you to your destination with all of your luggage in tow, preferably in a timely manner.

Of course, flights rarely go off without a hitch, and it’s likely that you’ll experience some kind of problem before you manage to reach your destination.

With this in mind, we decided to take a look at consumer complaints across commercial U.S. airlines to see what kind of customer experience is most common and which airlines are seeing the most frustrated customers.

Depending on your go-to airline, you might see that you chose wisely, or you might see that there’s a better option for you to choose for your next trip.

TABLE OF CONTENTS [SHOW]

Airlines with the Highest Percentage Of On-Time Arrivals

When you’re told the time that your flight will arrive, typically you’re hoping that your flight will, in fact, arrive at that time. As most passengers know, this is far from guaranteed, but there are some airlines with a much better track record than others.

According to our analysis, Hawaiian Airlines is the most likely airline to get you to your destination on time, with 86.5% of their flights arriving within the promised time frame.

Delta Air Lines comes in second, with 82.4% of their flights arriving on-time, followed by Endeavor Air coming in at 81.9%.

The riskiest airlines to take if you’re in a rush or you have a connecting flight are ExpressJet, Frontier, or JetBlue.

ExpressJet has just a 70% on-time arrival track record, and Frontier and JetBlue are tied at just 72% on-time arrivals. If you’re worried about missing your connection, these are not the airlines to book.

Airlines with the Highest Percentage of Canceled Flights

Of course, there’s nothing more frustrating than getting stranded after a flight gets canceled. It’s a relatively rare occurrence for a flight to be canceled completely, but it’s still a risk you run depending on the weather and the state of a particular aircraft.

ExpressJet has the highest percentage of canceled flights, making it the most likely airline to have a canceled flight and the least likely to get you there on time.

Envoy Air comes in second, followed by Mesa Airlines.

Delta was the least likely to have flights canceled, followed closely by Hawaiian Airlines and Allegiant Air. 

In all three cases, the percentage of canceled flights was less than 1%, making it very likely that you will reach your destination.

Delta and Hawaiian Airlines were also the top two airlines most likely to arrive on time, making them the most reliable airline options.

Airlines with the Most Mishandled Baggage

Once you get to your destination, hopefully your bags have made it too. However, misplaced luggage is a common problem, and airlines constantly have to deal with getting bags from point A to point B without incident.

Envoy Air had the highest average number of bags per 1,000 that were delayed, lost, diverted, or damaged in any way throughout the journey, at an average of 8.7 per 1,000 bags.

Meanwhile, Allegiant Air and Frontier Airlines had the lowest number of bags mishandled on average per 1,000.

The larger airlines deal with a higher volume of bags and are likely to experience issues with mishandled baggage. However, the highest number of bags mishandled in the timeframe we looked at was Southwest Airlines with 49,191 bags mishandled at some point during their passenger’s trip.

Customer Complaints by Airline

Any customer is allowed to lodge a complaint with the airline based on their customer experience. In many cases, customers do choose to make their displeasure known.

During the 10 months worth of data that we looked at, Frontier and Spirit Airlines tied for the most average monthly complaints per 10,000 passengers.

At 27 complaints per month per 10,000 passengers, they had the least satisfied customers overall. Meanwhile, Southwest and Endeavor Air averaged fewer than 5 complaints per month per 10,000 customers.

The nature of the customer complaints was another data point we looked at. The highest percentage of complaints in each category told us where each type of airline inconvenience was most common.

Based on those numbers, we found that Republic Airways was the most likely airline to have a passenger log a complaint about flight problems, while Sun Country Airlines was most likely to receive a baggage complaint. 

Analysis Methodology

This study looked at the Air Travel Consumer Reports for late 2018 through most of 2019 to identify monthly averages for complaints, on-time arrivals, and mishandled baggage.

The available data was from November 2018 through August of 2019. We took the monthly average for each data point to determine which airline had the best and worst track record according to 10 months of data.

We also looked at the number of passengers for each airline to see the number of passengers per 1,000 or 10,000 who were experiencing these problems on average.

Final Thoughts

Air travel is widely regarded to be the fastest method of getting from one place to another, but the fact is that there are a number of factors that can affect your arrival, and often they are outside of your and the employee’s control.

There’s nothing worse than getting bumped from your flight or getting stuck in the security line, especially because there’s nothing you can do!

However, you can choose the airline you book, and in this case, it would appear that Hawaiian Airlines and Delta are the most likely options to get you to your destination with a minimum of frustration.

Budget airlines are a great option, but they have lower costs for a reason, and in some cases, it might be worth spending a little bit extra for peace of mind. 

Source: https://upgradedpoints.com/us-airlines-best-and-worst-customer-service/

Delta’s New $59 Subscription Gets You Booze And Early Access To Overhead Bins. But Is It Worth It?

(Washington Post illustration; iStock)

By Hannah Sampson

Air travelers who stress over finding a place to stow their carry-on bag have a new option: pay an annual fee to board flights early — and hope it will be enough to avoid the critical mass of fellow travelers and their luggage.

Delta introduced a “new travel benefits bundle” called SkyMiles Select on Wednesday that costs $59 for a year. Its benefits — the subject of hot debate on frequent-flier forums — include priority boarding, eight drink vouchers and “a limited-edition bag tag.”

“Board sooner and find the perfect overhead bin space with Main Cabin 1 boarding,” the airline says on its website. Despite that hook, the airline is not explicitly guaranteeing travelers will always find bin space.

“Customers have told us they want more ways to access benefits when traveling with Delta, and we know priority boarding is a valuable benefit as it gives customers more time to get settled before their flight,” Delta spokesman Anthony Black said in an email. “We’ll look to expand the types of benefits they can access based on feedback from this test.”

The boarding position is hardly elite: According to Delta’s website, Main Cabin 1 boards fourth from last, after four other groups (not including military, travelers who need extra help, or people with car seats and strollers). One segment who could benefit: those who book the cheapest tickets, known as “Basic Economy,” which boards last. If they buy the bundle, they get to board earlier.

[Checking a bag vs. carrying on is the great debate of airline travel]

“There is some value here,” says Kyle Potter, editor in chief of the travel website Thrifty Traveler, who wrote about the new benefits. “Not a ton.”

Most beer, wine and spirits cost $9, so eight drink vouchers are worth more than the $59 fee. But, Potter points out, Delta credit card holders already board in the same group, and those with certain levels of frequent-flier status board earlier. Those travelers aren’t the target market for this offer, he said.

“They’re going after kind of the Average Joes and Average Janes out there who fly twice, maybe three times a year,” Potter says. “And this could give them a reason to keep going back to Delta for those two or three flights a year because they want to use those benefits.”

Delta isn’t the only airline to offer subscriptions; United sells them for its Economy Plus category and baggage, among other things. And other airlines sell early access to the plane: JetBlue’s “Even More Space” seats come with early boarding, and on Southwest, travelers can pay $15 to $25 each way to nab a boarding position before most of the rest of the plane. Both airlines highlight access to overhead bins as a perk. Delta itself sells a priority boarding add-on for $15 each way.

In messages on FlyerTalk, an online travel site, some fliers sounded intrigued by the offer. Others were not so impressed.

“I guess it’s best of the rest,” one user said about the boarding group. “But calling it priority is a stretch, even on a good day.”

Another commenter worried about what the new subscription could mean for the future of bin struggles: “If this proves popular, we might start seeing some flights that run out of overhead space in the middle of Main Cabin 1 boarding!”

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/travel/2019/10/18/deltas-new-subscription-gets-you-booze-early-access-overhead-bins-is-it-worth-it/

World's Best Airlines For 2019 Revealed By Skytrax

(CNN) — The results are in -- Qatar Airways is back on top with flying colors, nabbing the top spot at the 2019 Skytrax World Airline Awards.

Last year, the Gulf carrier was pipped to the post by Singapore Airlines, but now QatarAirways is celebrating its fifth time grabbing the prestigious accolade -- having previously won in 2017, 2015, 2012 and 2011.

Qatar Airways also won World's Best Business Class, World's Best Business Class Seat and Best Airline in the Middle East.

Singapore Airlines -- the carrier known for running the world's longest flight -- took second place but also won key awards including World's Best Cabin Crew, World's Best First Class, Best Airline in Asia and World's Best First Class Seat.

In the world of budget air travel, AirAsia won World's Best Low-Cost Airline and Japan Airlines won World's Best Economy Class and Economy Class Seat.

"It is a proud moment for the airline as our constant innovation and service standards set the benchmark in our industry," says Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker.

The Skytrax awards are seen as among the most prestigious in the business -- they're voted for by consumers.

Airline executives celebrated at a ceremony held at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget, France.

Big winners

The top 10 is a familiar who's-who of the aviation world -- with no big shake-ups.

Qantas Airways nabbed number 8 on the list, after failing to make the top 10 in 2019.

Lufthansa is still the only European airline able to break the top 10.

British Airways, which failed to win any accolade in 2018, this year won Best Airline Staff in Europe, Best Airline Staff in the United Kingdom and Most Improved Airline in Europe.

Last year, US carriers failed to win any of the global awards -- but this year, United Airlines won World's Best Business Class Lounge.

The Best Airline in North America is still Air Canada -- which also scooped the prize for World's Best Business Class Lounge Dining.

Air France continues its reputation for haute cuisine in the sky with its win for World's Best First Class Onboard Catering, while if you're flying economy you'll apparently find the best food on board an EVA Air flight.

Best inflight entertainment went to Emirates and EVA Air also topped the ranking of the World's Cleanest Airlines.

Qatar Airways was named the World's Best Airline for the fifth time.

KARIM JAAFAR/AFP/AFP/Getty Images

World's Best Airlines for 2019

1. Qatar Airways

2. Singapore Airlines

3. ANA All Nippon Airways

4. Cathay Pacific

5. Emirates

6. EVA Air

7. Hainan Airlines

8. Qantas Airways

9. Lufthansa

10. Thai Airways

World's Cleanest Airlines for 2019

1. EVA Air

2. Japan Airlines

3. ANA All Nippon Airways

4. Singapore Airlines

5. Asiana Airlines

6. Hainan Airlines

7. Swiss International Air Lines

8. Cathay Pacific

9. Qatar Airways

10. Lufthansa

Best Airlines -- by Global Region

Northern Europe -- Finnair

Western Europe -- Lufthansa

Eastern Europe -- Aeroflot Russian Airlines

Africa -- Ethiopian Airlines

Australia / Pacific -- Qantas Airlines

Central Asia / India -- Air Astana

China -- Hainan Airlines

Central America / Caribbean -- Copa Airlines

South America -- LATAM

North America -- Air Canada

Asia -- Singapore Airlines

Middle East -- Qatar Airways

Europe -- Lufthansa

Best Low-Cost Airlines

Africa -- Fastjet

Australia & Pacific -- Jetstar Airways

Asia -- AirAsia

Central Asia / India -- IndiGo

China -- West Air

South America -- Sky Airline

Southwest Airlines -- WestJet

Middle East -- Flynas

Europe -- EasyJet

Best Airline Catering

Air France impressed with its haute cuisine.

Courtesy AirFrance

Economy -- EVA Air

Premium Economy -- Austrian Airlines

Business -- ANA All Nippon Airways

First Class -- Air France

Best Airline Seats

Economy -- Japan Airlines

Premium economy -- Virgin Atlantic

Business -- Qatar Airways

First class -- Singapore Airlines

Best Regional Airlines

World's Best Regional Airline -- Bangkok Airways

Africa -- Royal Air Maroc

Asia -- Bangkok Airways

South America -- Azul Brazilian Airlines

North America -- JetBlue Airways

Central Asia / India -- Azerbaijan Airlines

Best Airline Lounges

First class -- Swiss International Airlines

Business Class Lounge -- United Airlines

Airline alliance lounge -- Star Alliance Los Angeles

Independent airport lounge -- Plaza Premium Heathrow Terminal Two

First class lounge dining -- Air France

Best Airlines Staff Service -- by Global Region

Africa -- South African Airways

Australia / Pacific -- Fiji Airways

Central Asia / India -- Vistara

China -- Hainan Airlines

Central America / Caribbean -- Copa Airlines

South America -- Azul Brazilian Airlines

North America -- Delta Air Lines

Asia -- Thai Airways

Middle East -- Flynas

Europe -- British Airways

Francesca Street, CNN