Southwest Is Rated Top Airline for a Third Year

L.A. Times Archives

April 21, 1998 12 AM PT

From Associated Press

Passengers are increasingly upset with the treatment they receive from airlines despite apparent gains in overall quality, according to an annual study released Monday.

Rating the major airlines individually, the study put Southwest Airlines at the top for a third straight year. US Airways was ranked 10th and last.

The most common complaints stemmed from flight trouble, including delayed, canceled and diverted flights. But the university researchers who conducted the study said passengers often weren’t as upset with those problems as with their airlines’ inability or refusal to explain the situation accurately.

“A lot of times they consider an ignorant consumer is bliss,” said Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State University. He coauthored the survey with Brent Bowen of the University of Nebraska Aviation Institute.

The study ranked the quality of the nation’s major carriers, with Southwest again leading the way.

Jumping into second place in its first year in the survey was Alaska Airlines, while the previous No. 2, American Airlines, fell to fourth. Continental Airlines, which has concentrated on improving its on-time performance and baggage handling, rose to third.

In 1994, Houston-based Continental had ranked last in the study, known as the Airline Quality Rating, which analyzes airlines with over $1 billion in annual business.

Rounding out the new list were United Airlines in fifth place, Delta Air Lines in sixth, Northwest Airlines in seventh, America West in eighth, TWA in ninth and US Airways in tenth.

The researchers base their ratings on 19 criteria, including on-time arrivals and departures, safety, age of aircraft, number of accidents and mishandled baggage. The factors are weighted in importance based on a passenger survey.

While the 1997 study found the airlines operating at their highest statistical level since the ratings started seven years ago, Bowen and Headley also found consumer dissatisfaction at an all-time high.

There was a 20% increase in the number of complaints filed with the Department of Transportation, mostly concerning treatment at check-in and aboard flights.

To emphasize the point, Bowen said his trip to Washington aboard Southwest--the top-rated airline--was one of the worst flights he had ever taken. It started with a crew member chasing him and making him return to the gate to check the size of his carry-on bag. It turned out to be acceptable.

He said an airline crackdown on carry-ons had turned the crew into “baggage police.”

Southwest spokesman Ed Stewart said a crackdown in carry-on luggage was in response to other passenger complaints and, based on mail received by the airline, had been greeted positively by most passengers.

Other findings of the study:

* Southwest had the best on-time performance for the year, with 82% of flights arriving on time.

* United had the most mishandled bags, 67 per 10,000 passengers.

* America West generated the most complaints to the Transportation Department, 1.51 per 100,000 passengers.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Airline Ratings

Airline ratings in a recent survey were based on 19 criteria, including on-time performance, safety, customer complaints, ticket prices and baggage handling.

The Top Five

1. Southwest

2. Alaska

3. Continental

4. American

5. United

Customer Complaints

(average per 100,000 passengers)

Southwest: 0.28

Alaska: 0.63

Delta: 0.64

Continental: 0.77