A closer look at the best and worst airlines of 2007
Here’s an important footnote to the airline industry’s year from hell. A closer look at the Transportation Department’s 2007 report card shows some carriers were likelier to lose your luggage, deny you boarding, get you to your destination late and provoke a written complaint. And some airlines were above it all.
Here’s a birds-eye view of the DOT’s report, by category. I’ve broken it down into in an easy-to-understand blog posting so that you can sort the winners from the sinners and make a more informed booking decision.
Which airline is likeliest to lose my luggage?
No surprises here. The Hawaiian carriers outperformed everyone else. Low fare carriers did better than legacy airlines. And regional carriers continued their underperforming streak.
Mishandled baggage (reports per 1,000 passengers)
Best
1. Hawaiian Airlines (3.41)
2. Aloha Airlines (3.88)
3. AirTran Airways (4.06)
4. Northwest Airlines (5.01)
5. JetBlue Airways (5.23)
Worst
1. American Eagle (13.55)
2. Comair (11.40)
3. Atlantic Southeast (11.24)
4. Skywest (10.87)
5. Mesa Airlines (10.46)
The industry average for mishandled baggage was 7.03, compared with 6.73 in 2006. Two years ago, the top performer was Hawaiian (3.14) and the airline with the worst record was Atlantic Southeast (17.37).
Which airline will oversell its flight and bump me?
Among the best performers, there were no surprises except one: United Airlines. Legacy carriers routinely overbook their flights and then deny passengers boarding. But United seems to have gotten its act together. Delta, on the other hand, does not. It joined the bottom-feeding regional carriers.
Involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers.
Best
1. JetBlue Airways (.02)
2. AirTran Airways (.15)
3. Hawaiian Airlines (.17)
4. Aloha (.29)
5. United (.71)
Worst
1. Atlantic Southeast (4.50)
2. Comair (3.15)
3. Delta Air Lines (2.47)
4. Skywest (1.69)
5. Mesa Airlines (1.54)
The industry average last year was 1.12 involuntary denied boardings per 10,000 passengers, compared with 1 in 2006. JetBlue was the best performer in 2006, with .07 involuntary denied boardings, and Atlantic Southeast lost in the category, with 4.47 IDBs per 10k passengers.
Which airline am I most likely to complain about?
The legacy airlines were clear winners – I mean, losers – in the complaints category. If you were flying internationally, British Airways led by a wide margin.
Domestic
1. US Airways (1,828)
2. American Airlines (1,617)
3. United Airlines (1,540)
4. Delta Air Lines (1,325)
5. Northwest Airlines (768)
International
1. British Airways (285)
2. Alitalia (173)
3. Air France (152)
4. Lufthansa (84)
5. Iberia (72)
Which online agencies am I most likely to complain about?
This is a relatively new category for the DOT report card. I would expect next year’s numbers to be higher, now that passengers are aware they can gripe about their online travel agency, too.
1. Orbitz (45)
2. Travelocity (35)
3. Expedia (30)
4. Cheaptickets (22)
5. Cheapoair/Priceline (tie) (16)
Which airline runs on time?
Again, the Hawaiian carriers and low-fare airlines dominated, with a surprise appearance by Delta. Rounding out the bottom are two legacy carriers and the usual suspects — regional carriers.
Overall percentage of reported flight operations arriving on time
Best
1. Hawaiian (93.3)
2. Aloha (92.2)
3. Southwest (80.1)
4. Frontier (77.6)
5. Delta (76.9)
Worst
1. Atlantic Southeast (64.7)
2. Comair (67.9)
3. US Airways (68.7)
4. American (68.7)
5. American Eagle (69.1)
The industry average for 2007 was 73.4 percent, well below the historical average (over the last 20 years) of 78.3 percent.
What to make of these numbers?
If you want a quality flying experience in the lower 48, go for a low-fare carrier. If you’re into pain, try a legacy carrier or better yet, a regional airline.
You may also be interested in these articles
Comments
13 Responses to “A closer look at the best and worst airlines of 2007”
Please share your thoughts...
I’ve never had a problem with the Hawaiian carriers - they have 10,000 flights a day inter-island and maybe two a day to the west coast cities from each of the Islands. If you get there early just get on the earlier flight - if you miss one - just get on the later one. If they leave your bags in HNL by mistake, they’ll be along on the next one in 45 minutes. you’ve been traveling all day, you are in HAWAII - CHILL - whaddya need? A bathing suit, flops and a t-shirt and you’re set for the week. Thats why the carrier have good scores - whats there to complain about?
Try this some time. Plan a week or ten days in Hawaii. Bring ONE carry on - thats it - one per person. That includes the camera and all the stuff. Its gotta fit in the overhead.
My wife and I did our honeymoon - 2 weeks on Maui - we each took a small duffle that fit in the over head. 13 nights-= 1 medium size bag each. Travel light. Makes life easier. You’ll get to Hawaii and you’ll live in a bahting suit and t-shirt, sleep in shorts and a t, bring one pair of flops and wear a pair of sneakers. We bought some stuff and shared another tote for the stuff we bought. Lifes too short to worry about your luggage.
I have a friend who works as a pilot at American Eagle. He once remarked to me how thei employees have their own nickname for the airline: “The Evil Chicken”
After looking at these results, I am beginning to understand why…
One interesting thing to note about the overselling and bumping category:
Three of the four “regional” carriers listed are Delta Connection regional carriers. I don’t know if ASA or ComAir fly for other airlines as well, but I know for a fact that they’re Delta… and I also know that SkyWest is a combined United/Delta regional carrier. In fact, SkyWest bought ASA not that long ago, so it’s interesting to see that ASA is still counted separately!
OTOH, I’ve flown Mesa both as an independent airline (in the Four Corners area of New Mexico) and as a USAir regional carrier, and I’ve never had an issue with them at all… they’re courteous, caring, and they do well with baggage. I’ve only been bumped off of them once, and that was because of a weather issue (flying out of Phoenix in the summer reduces the capacity of their turboprop aircraft ;) )…
It suddenly makes me wish I lived in an area where I could fly JetBlue or AirTran or one of the other carriers, though…
I have to say one of my best flight experiences has been with Frontier. The FAs were friendly and courteous, and the flight had no problems. We were a little late leaving DEN for BNA, but that was the day of the big LAX computer crash and they held the flilght, waiting on the flight from LAX so passengers could catch their DEN connection. However, 20 minutes late wasn’t too bad, all things considered.
They fly nice, clean A319s that actually have comfortable economy seats and little TVs in the back of each seat. I was impressed.
I happened to be flying on United the day of the big computer crash and “weather problem” to the East Coast. Not only am I a minor under 18, but, because my global services father was trapped in Atlanta, I was stuck with the usual no-respect for a teen routine that people throw out. My flight was stuck in Denver and I BARELY missed my final flight. I’d planned ahead in Denver and booked the next flight to my destination, but it didn’t leave until 9 the next morning. I arrived in W.D.C./Dulles airport at 11 at night. I spent three hours in the CS line (11-2am), got the ticket printed, and they were out of blankets and pillows, and the room for the minors was full. :[ (Sleeping on chairs SUCKS, especially when it is COLD in the airport!) I was turned away with: go over there, stay over there, don’t leave the terminal until around 7. No compensation whatsoever. (anyone heard of a water bottle, at least? A cookie, maybe? Something? Make me feel acknowledged here!)
In Denver, United refused to book me on another carrier that would have gotten me to Atlanta. In D.C., I got two hours of “sleep,” had no money for food, but, thankfully, all my luggage was carry-on.
For that, the lies, the poor service, and the lack of respect I got, United has ranked VERY poorly with me.
Who the heck lies about there being bad weather on the East coast when the people you talk to say it’s a sunny day? :[
I work for jetBlue Airways and I have to say they among the best at treating their employees. When we fly on other Airlines, usually are treated well by the low cost lines and horribly by Legacy lines.
One thing that no-one talks about is how Delays happen, on average less than 2% are mechanical or people error, the rest are due to weather and what’s called “Ground Stop”, it means that the receiving airport does not or cannot handle the incoming traffic so it will not allow more landings. This is why there is so many delays at airports like JFK and Newark.
So when you are stuck for 2-3 hours at an airport blame the system and not the Air carrier, they are at the mercy of antiquated system and overloaded airports.
But for good news, Airports like JFK are going to start rationing flights in order to reduce delays, what this will mean is less incoming and outgoing flights and possibly higher prices, and you can thank your Government for that.
And as for Overbooking, this is done in order to maximize capacity at the expense of the customer. JetBlue does NOT OVERBOOK intentionally unlike others do. So if you are flying American, Delta, Continental or any of the other dinosaurs good luck because you will get exactly what you pay for, they will get you from point A to B in dirty, old, stinky planes, crappy service, rude people, lost luggage and your stuff will probable get stolen by underpaid and overworked employees, just so the FAT CATS on top can get their multi million bonuses and the Airline will still lose money.
GO jetBlue!!!!!!!!!! FREE Snacks, FREE DirecTV, Leather Chairs, Awesome People.
A comment on Hawaiian air having the best on time record. They don’t have weather or airport congestion to condend with! So duh……they are going to have a good record.
As far as customer service - Definitely Delta is the best by far. They aren’t bitter or underpaid or mean. US Air - awful just awful. Greyhound of the skies? Definitely Airtran, Jetblue and Southwest - Check out their maintenance records!
Weather issues aren’t necessarily ‘on the ground’. It could be a sunny day but the winds are bad or the destination weather is bad. But if they cancel for weather? That is ok with me! I’d rather be safe on the ground then figuring out what to do at 30,000 feet in the air!
It’s not easy to run an airline especially when the major airlines are transporting hundreds of thousands of passangers a week! Delays are going to happen. Bags get lost and fat people sit next to you! Compare it to: Driving to work in traffic, losing your keys and a fat person on the elevator. It is called life!
Passangers need to do their part and get to the airport on time, don’t bring 5 overside carry-on bags and for crying out loud - stop complaining about the peanuts! Pack your own lunch!
Happy flying!
I happen to work for a legacy airline and one thing that I can tell you is that just because it is bright and sunny in MCO does not meant that there is not weather enroute. I hate when I am working a gate and I tell a pax that a delay is due to weather and they are going to tell me that they just spoke to someone at their destination and it is bright and sunny. Most times i have to pull up the weather radar and show them where the problem is. Most airports now have a weather radar screen so you can check it for yourself. IT is very frustrating for the agents at the gate when pax are expecting you to do the impossible. We understand your pain because believe it or not at some point in time we are pax also and experience the same things you do. I always tell a pax, “would you rather be grounded and safe or would you rather be airborne and risk getting a lightening strike among other things”. Just give the poor agents a break. Their jobs are not as easy as you may think. As for JetBlue, the reason why they end up stranding customers on a runway in JFK for 12 hrs last year and having to cancel flights for a whole week is because of bad management. They knew the storm was coming in yet they did not cancel the flights ahead of time. They rather risk the safety of their pax and crews just because they did not have the balls to tell pax they were not going anywhere because of the storm. HOw about that for “great” customer service.
My argument to the top 5:
For those of us who travel every week, we are schedule dependent and require non-stop flights. This is what we value, but it is hard to provide that value without sacrificing something.
As well, we value airline points and status. Status on an airline with limited routes is pretty worthless for the road warrior.
We are also dependent on our US Air hub in North Carolina. Choosing any of the top performance carriers out of Charlotte, Greensboro, or Raleigh is a poor option for us.
If I were an occasional flyer, I would go for the top 5. Road Warriors value other factors.
My favorite airline USED to be Continental. Before I moved to Colorado, I lived in NJ and used to fly out of EWR all the time. I was impressed by how Continental managed to fuse one functioning airline out of several when it was in consolidation mode a couple of decades ago, and I remained a Continental loyalist when I moved to Colorado. At the time, my favorite airline still hubbed in Denver (that stopped when DIA replaced the old Stapleton). Now I find myself flying United more than I would like to, and I’ve never been especially happy with them. I do use Frontier when I can, but they don’t have as many flights as UA, and I tend to go for convenient scheduling. I really like Southwest too, because they are unpretentious and efficient. However, they don’t yet have service to all that many cities from Denver.
Claire & http://travel-babel.blogspot.com
Can you tell me why I never see any mention of Spirit Airllines in your reviews? I fly out of Detroit on Spirit all the time and have found it to be very pleasant with no problems. Great new planes also.
Chris, I don’t understand the “complaint” numbers. Are those “complaints per 100,000 passengers”, or “total number of complaints”? If it’s the latter, then the numbers are extremely misleading. For example, I suspect BA carries well over 10x the number of passengers carried by Alitalia.
Skywest is the absolute WORST airline I have ever had the displeasure of Flying on.
Extremely poor service, RUDE employees, dirty aircraft……Never again!