Southwest Airlines best, US Airways worst, in survey of airline consumers
May 17, 2011
By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist
Comfort issues and excessive fees are sore points for air travelers and are among the major reasons many are traveling less, according to a survey of nearly 15,000 passengers by Consumer Reports.
Eight of the 10 major airlines that Consumer Reports readers rated received low scores for seat comfort. Several carriers also got low marks for other quality-of-flight measures including cabin-crew service, cleanliness, and in-flight entertainment.
Airlines were scored based on passengers’ responses to questions on overall satisfaction, check-in ease, cabin-crew service, cabin cleanliness, baggage handling, seating comfort, and in-flight entertainment. Consumer Reports also asked questions about charging additional fees.
Southwest Airlines and JetBlue Airways topped the list with relatively high scores for overall satisfaction. Southwest was the only airline to receive top marks for check-in ease and cabin-crew service. Passengers also gave Southwest high grades for cabin cleanliness and baggage handling. (The survey was conducted before Southwest’s problems in April with cracks in several of its planes.)
JetBlue was the only airline to outscore Southwest for seating comfort, possibly because it gives passengers more room than they’re accustomed to. JetBlue was also the only carrier in Consumer Reports’ ratings to earn top scores for in-flight entertainment; its seatback TV screens offer passengers 36 channels.
At the other end of the list, the bottom-ranked US Airways occupies the same spot as it did in 2007, when Consumer Reports last assessed airlines. In addition to its low overall score, survey respondents gave it the worst marks of any airline for cabin-crew service.
Added fees at or after check-in by many carriers further contributes to passengers’ low opinion of today’s flying experience, and even to their decision of whether to fly at all. Forty percent of survey respondents who said they’re flying less these days gave increased fees as the major reason – far more than those who blamed flight delays, poor service, or any other annoyance.
"What we found is that paying fewer additional fees generally translates into a passenger having higher overall satisfaction with an airline," said Mark Kotkin, a director of survey research at Consumer Reports.
As with overall satisfaction, airlines differ widely in how likely they are to charge extra fees. For example, 93 percent of the Southwest passengers surveyed had avoided all of the fees Consumer Reports asked about. Fewer travelers were as lucky with their experiences at Continental Airlines, 57 percent; JetBlue Airways, 56 percent; Delta Airlines, 56 percent; American Airlines, 55 percent; United Airlines, 48 percent; US Airways, 46 percent; Alaska Airlines, 44 percent; Frontier Airlines, 43 percent, and AirTran Airways, 33 percent.
AirTran passengers were also among those that frequently reported paying multiple additional fees – 43 percent of AirTran passengers said they paid one fee, 21 percent paid two, and 3 percent paid three or more.
The complete ratings chart and additional findings from the airline carrier survey are available in the June issue of Consumer Reports magazine available on newsstands May 10 or online at www.ConsumerReports.org.
Consumer Reports airline ratings are based on responses from readers who told the Consumer Reports National Research Center about their experiences on about 30,000 domestic round-trip flights from January 2010 to January 2011.
Tomorrow’s post will offer recommendations from Consumer Reports on "Tips on How to Land the Best Airfare."
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