B
Boeingstore
Guest
Overall US airline performance improves for third consecutive year; complaints rise
By Linda Blachly | April 5, 2011
0
SHARE
EMAIL
PRINT
US airlines improved their overall operational performance for the third consecutive year in terms of punctuality, baggage handling, customer complaints and involuntary denied boardings, according to researchers from Purdue University and Wichita State University in their annual Airline Quality Rating report released Monday. The report, which is based on public data filed to the US Dept. of Transportation by the airlines, noted that customer complaints per 100,000 passengers increased to 1.22 in 2010 from 0.97 in 2009, which the report blamed on a “busier air travel system.” The majority of complaints were for flight problems (32.9%), baggage (15.9%), reservations, ticketing and boarding (13.1%) and customer service (12.9%), according to the report, which noted Southwest Airlines had the lowest consumer complaint rate (0.27 per 100,000 passengers) and Delta Air Lines the highest (2 per 100,000 passengers).
The airline with the best overall AQR among the 16 graded was AirTran Airways, which is being acquired by Southwest, followed by Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines and SWA. The airlines with the worst ranking were regionals American Eagle, followed by Atlantic Southeast, Comair and Mesa.
“Further airline consolidation will continue to reduce the number of air carriers ranked in the AQR,” said Purdue University Professor and Department Head-Aviation Technology Brent Bowen. “Past AQR data suggests that combining of two large air carrier operations often results in subsequent decreases in AQR ratings,” said Bower, noting, “We will be carefully watching to see if two highly rated carriers, such as No. 1 AirTran and No. 5 Southwest, will reverse this trend.”
Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance at 92.5% for 2010, and Comair had the worst at 73.1%. JetBlue had the lowest involuntary denied boardings rate at 0.01 per 10,000 passengers. American Eagle had the highest involuntary denied boardings rate at 4.02 per 10,000 passengers.
AirTran had the best baggage handling rate with only 1.63 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. American Eagle was the worst with 7.15 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.
The report noted that mishandled baggage was the” most consistent area of performance improvement in 2010,” as 13 of 16 airlines improved their mishandled baggage performance for the year. The rate for the industry decreased from 3.88 per 1,000 passengers in 2009 to 3.49, it said.
By Linda Blachly | April 5, 2011
0
SHARE
US airlines improved their overall operational performance for the third consecutive year in terms of punctuality, baggage handling, customer complaints and involuntary denied boardings, according to researchers from Purdue University and Wichita State University in their annual Airline Quality Rating report released Monday. The report, which is based on public data filed to the US Dept. of Transportation by the airlines, noted that customer complaints per 100,000 passengers increased to 1.22 in 2010 from 0.97 in 2009, which the report blamed on a “busier air travel system.” The majority of complaints were for flight problems (32.9%), baggage (15.9%), reservations, ticketing and boarding (13.1%) and customer service (12.9%), according to the report, which noted Southwest Airlines had the lowest consumer complaint rate (0.27 per 100,000 passengers) and Delta Air Lines the highest (2 per 100,000 passengers).
The airline with the best overall AQR among the 16 graded was AirTran Airways, which is being acquired by Southwest, followed by Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airways, Alaska Airlines and SWA. The airlines with the worst ranking were regionals American Eagle, followed by Atlantic Southeast, Comair and Mesa.
“Further airline consolidation will continue to reduce the number of air carriers ranked in the AQR,” said Purdue University Professor and Department Head-Aviation Technology Brent Bowen. “Past AQR data suggests that combining of two large air carrier operations often results in subsequent decreases in AQR ratings,” said Bower, noting, “We will be carefully watching to see if two highly rated carriers, such as No. 1 AirTran and No. 5 Southwest, will reverse this trend.”
Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance at 92.5% for 2010, and Comair had the worst at 73.1%. JetBlue had the lowest involuntary denied boardings rate at 0.01 per 10,000 passengers. American Eagle had the highest involuntary denied boardings rate at 4.02 per 10,000 passengers.
AirTran had the best baggage handling rate with only 1.63 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers. American Eagle was the worst with 7.15 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.
The report noted that mishandled baggage was the” most consistent area of performance improvement in 2010,” as 13 of 16 airlines improved their mishandled baggage performance for the year. The rate for the industry decreased from 3.88 per 1,000 passengers in 2009 to 3.49, it said.