On Monday, Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University released their annual Airline Quality Ratings (AQR) report. The study evaluates the performance of America’s 12 largest airlines based on a series of factors including on-time performance, denied boardings, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints.
According to the study, the airline industry, as a whole, has shown improvement over the past year. Mishandled baggage, involuntary denied boardings, and consumer complaints are all down significantly since 2015. At the same time, on-time performance has improved from 79.9% in 2015 to 81.4% in 2016.
«The best-ever overall industry AQR score is largely due to best-ever performance in the rate of involuntary denied boardings and the rate of mishandled bags,» the report’s co-author Wichita State University associate professor Dean Headley said in a release. «Air travel is great again "“ that statement can be followed with a period, exclamation point or question mark depending on the individual"™s perspective.»
However, the study also shows that 2016 was an up and down year for some airline carriers. Nine of the 12 airlines featured in the study saw their ratings improve while traditional industry leaders JetBlue, Virgin America, and Hawaiian saw their rating take a slight dip.
Here is a detailed breakdown of the new Airline Quality Ratings.
12. Frontier Airlines
2015 Ranking: 11
Notes: Even though Frontier finished last on the list, the report shows that the low cost carrier has show significant improvement over 2015 in terms of customer complaints, the number of denied boardings, and on-time performance. In fact, Frontier’s 76% on-time rate finished ahead of JetBlue. Unfortunately, Frontier’s number of mishandled bags also increased.
11. Spirit Airlines
2015 Ranking: 13
Notes: Spirit takes the award for the most improved airline on the list. Unfortunately, that’s more of a testament to how poorly they performed in 2015 rather than a statement on how well they did in 2016. Spirit’s 74.3% on time percentage is the worst of the 12 airlines featured.
10. ExpressJet
2015 Ranking: 9
Notes: ExpressJet operates regional flights on behalf of American, Delta, and United Airlines. Even though the airline’s on-time performance increased to 79.8%, it’s rate of denied boardings is the highest on the list.
9. American Airlines
2015 Ranking: 10
Notes: Even though American’s on-time performance dipped to 79.4% in 2016, the airline showed improvement in the three other criteria on which the carrier is judged.
8. United Airlines
2015 Ranking: 8
Notes: In spite of recent events, United made significant performance improvements in 2016. On-time percentage improved from 78.2% in 2015 to 81.7%. In addition, the number of involuntary denied boarding fell to 0.43 per 10,000 passengers from 0.77, which is below the industry average of 0.62. In addition, the number of mishandled baggage and customer complaints also fell.
7. Skywest
2015 Ranking: 7
Notes: SkyWest operates regional flights on behalf of Alaska, American, Delta, and United Airlines. Skywest made significant improvements on all four major criteria.
6. Southwest
2015 Ranking: 6
Notes: Southwest boasts the lowest rate of consumer complaints of the 12 airlines covered in the study. Overall, the airline improved in all four criteria.
5. Hawaiian
2015 Ranking: 4
Notes: Hawaiian boasts the best on-time performance in the study at 91.1%. In addition, it also has the fewest denied boarding at 0.05 per 10,000 passengers. However, the airline slipped both in terms of the number of customer complaints and mishandled bags…
