Continental Tops Airline Rankings in Survey

Readers of Frequent Flyer magazine ranked Continental as their favorite airline for both long-haul and short-haul flights, leading second-place TWA in the poll conducted by the magazine and the survey firm J.D. Power & Associates. Continental scored 123 points for flights of more than 500 miles, followed by TWA with 121, Southwest with 108 and United with the industry average of 100 points on the magazine’s scoring system. For the shorter flights, Continental received 122 points, TWA 117 and Southwest 107. The magazine declined to make public scores of airlines falling below the industry average, but listed them in alphabetical order. On short hauls they were America West, American, Delta, Northwest, US Airways and United. The same lines fell below average on long routes except United, which scored right at the average. Factors contributing to the scores were on-time performance, ease of airport check-in, flight attendants, seating comfort, gate factors, flight availability and scheduling, aircraft interior, frequent-flier programs and food service.