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U.S. commercial airlines improved their performance in 2016, according to the annual Airline Quality Rating report, released Monday by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical and Wichita State universities.
The report measures the industry based upon consumer complaint incidences, mishandled-baggage rates, on-time arrival percentages and the frequency with which travelers weren’t allowed on the flight they had booked for reasons beyond their control but within the control of airlines.
Industrywide, the metrics approved across the board. The mishandled-baggage rate dropped from 3.24 per 1,000 passengers in 2015 to 2.7 per 1,000 passengers in 2016. On-time arrivals jumped from 79.9% to 81.4%.
The rate at which passengers were involuntarily prevented from boarding flights — typically because the flight is oversold — dropped from .76 per 10,000 to .62 per 10,000. The number of consumer complaints registered with the DOT declined from 1.9 per 100,000 passengers to 1.52 per 100,000 passengers.
“Improvement in industry performance in all of areas in the ratings is a positive sign for consumers and airlines alike,” the study said. “The 20% decrease in the rate of consumer complaints in 2016 suggests that improved performance in important areas to consumers has been noticed.”
The findings drew a quick response from the trade group Airlines for America (A4A), which touted the improvements.
“Today’s report confirms what we already know to be true; U.S. airlines are improving the flying experience by investing billions of dollars in the things that matter most to their 2 million daily customers,” A4A vice president and chief economist John Heimlich said.
U.S. airlines, he added, invested $17.5 billion in 2016 in product and consumer improvements.
Now in its 27th edition, the Airline Quality Rating is the longest-running performance study of the U.S. airline industry, according Embry-Riddle and Wichita State. The study employs a mathematical formula to render a quality rating for the industry at-large and for specific airlines based upon their performance metrics.
Along with the industrywide analysis, the report also individually ranked the 12 U.S. airlines that carried at least 1% of domestic passenger traffic in 2016.
Among those, Alaska had the highest quality rating. Delta came in second. Virgin America, JetBlue and Hawaiian rounded out the top five. Frontier came in last.
Nine airlines, including Frontier, earned a higher numerical quality rating in 2016 than in 2015. Spirit, which sits 11 out of 12 airlines in the ranking, nevertheless had the largest jump in its score. The ultra-low-cost carrier improved in all four key metrics, including a leap in its on-time rate from 69% to 74.3% percent.
Hawaiian, Virgin America and JetBlue were three airlines that saw drops in their quality rating in 2016. JetBlue suffered the biggest decline, due in large part to a substantial increase in its percentage of involuntary denied boardings.
Sоurсе: travelweekly.com
