Thu, Apr 07, 2011
Improvements In On-Time Performance, Baggage Handling, Denied
Boardings
Airline passengers are experiencing better performance by the
airlines, even though it may cost more to fly. For the third
consecutive year, the performance of the nation's leading carriers
improved, according to the 21st annual national Airline Quality
Rating. It was the third best overall score in the 20 years
researchers have tracked the performance of airlines.
Released during a news conference at the National Press Club
Monday, the rankings show that of the 16 carriers rated for
performance in both 2009 and 2010, nine airlines had improved
Airline Quality Rating scores, and seven airlines had worse AQR
scores for 2010.
In the executive summary posted on the AQR website, the group
says that, as an industry, its AQR criteria shows that on-time
arrival percentage was better (80.0% in 2010 compared to 79.4% in
2009), mishandled baggage rates improved to 3.49 per 1,000
passengers in 2010 from 3.88 per 1,000 passengers in 2009, and
involuntary denied boardings per passenger served decreased to 1.08
per 10,000 passengers in 2010 from 1.19 per 10,000 passengers in
2009. Consumer complaint rates increased to 1.22 per 100,000
passengers in 2010 from 0.97 per 100,000 passengers in 2009. Of the
9,119 complaints registered with DOT regarding U.S. domestic
carriers, 48.8% were for either flight problems or baggage handling
problems. Taking all 16 rated airlines together, the AQR score for
the industry improved from a level of -1.27 in 2009 to -1.20 in
2010. With a mixed bag of gains and losses across the 16 carriers
rated, the slight gain in AQR score for the industry is a positive
sign. The improvement trend in AQR scores since 2007 speaks well of
the industry efforts in difficult times.
The Airline Quality Rating is a joint research project funded as
part of faculty research activities at Wichita State University and
Purdue University. The industry improved in three of the four major
elements of the AQR: on-time performance, baggage handling and
denied boardings. Customer complaints is the only element where
performance declined.
Below is the 2011 numerical ranking of the nation's leading 16
airlines, according to the Airline Quality Rating, with the 2010
ranking in parentheses:
- AirTran (2)
- Hawaiian (1)
- JetBlue (3)
- Alaska (11)
- Southwest (5)
- US Airways (8)
- Delta (15)
- Continental (6)
- Frontier (7)
- SkyWest (14)
- American (9)
- United (13)
- Mesa (12)
- Comair (16)
- Atlantic Southeast (17)
- American Eagle (18)
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