The Best (and Worst) Airlines

[TampaYankee]

The Best (and Worst) Airlines

By Scott McCartney | The Wall Street Journal

Travel is an ice-jammed nightmare now, but travelers have been getting used to more problems: Last year was one of the worst for airline reliability of the past five years.

Delays went up and more flights were canceled in 2013 than 2012, even though airlines again reduced the number of flights crowding airports, according to FlightStats Inc., which tracked more than 8 million trips last year. About 78% of flights on U.S. airlines arrived on-time last year, down from 80% in 2012.

The Middle Seat's annual scorecard of airline service is in. Razer launches a smartband aimed at the gaming set.

That's a significant move, reflecting hundreds of flights each day. On-time performance is a barometer for airline performance, influencing baggage handling, cancellations, complaints and other areas. Two measures of extreme customer impact worsened sharply: The number of flights delayed excessively by 45 minutes or more increased 13% and the number of flights canceled jumped 15%, according to FlightStats.

Associated Press Alaska Airlines placed first in our ranking of nine major carries for 2013.

More luggage was lost or delayed last year, too, partly because Southwest Airlines, the lone major carrier to still offer two free checked bags to customers, stumbled. Southwest mishandled more bags than United Airlines and Delta Air Lines combined, according to the most recent Transportation Department data, which covers 12 months ending last October.

The good news? Fewer passengers got involuntarily bumped from flights, according to the DOT, and fewer customers complained to the DOT about airline service. Airlines have gotten more aggressive about intercepting gripes with emailed surveys and social media.

In the Middle Seat's annual scorecard of airline service, tracking seven different key measures of airline performance, Alaska Airlines performed best in 2013 among major carriers. At the top with Alaska was Delta, which for the past two years has posted far better operational results than big competitors. Worst among big airlines? United Airlines and American Airlines, again.

On the whole, it was a mediocre year for airline reliability, the second-worst of the past five in terms of on-time arrivals (2011 was slightly worse), according to FlightStats. And it was the worst of the last five in delays over 45 minutes. That's surprising. There were fewer flights flown than any year of the past nine because of airline mergers and capacity reductions. Less-crowded skies and airports ought to yield speedier service.

After benign weather in 2012, "2013 returned to a more normal weather pattern," said Bill Lentsch, senior vice president of airport customer service at Delta Air Lines.

But several carriers ran into issues of their own making. Southwest, for example, wrote schedules based on better weather the previous two years. That shaved some minutes off flying time and shortened time between flights on the ground, allowing the airline to offer more flights and connections to customers without adding aircraft.

Then bad weather, fuller airplanes that took longer to load and unload and the tight schedule combined to create more delays. "It did slow down our operation more than I'd like," said Mike Van de Ven, Southwest's chief operating officer. Schedules are being rewritten, he said, but the changes won't take hold until the second half of 2014. Seattle-based Alaska has the benefit of few flights on the East Coast of the U.S., where weather and airport congestion can be punishing. It does, though, face the challenge of sometimes harsh conditions in Alaska.

The airline has been a pioneer in new-generation, satellite-based navigation that can let planes fly into and out of airports that otherwise would be shut down by low visibility.

Delta, 2012's top-ranked airline by our analysis, led the industry with the lowest rate of canceled flights—just 0.34% of its schedule, according to FlightStats. The industry's average of canceled flights last year, 1.65%, was almost five times higher than Delta's rate.

Delta worked last year to speed up trips by minimizing taxi times, as well as speeding up loading and unloading, Mr. Lentsch said. "It's fine-tuning. We've made some really targeted investments that give us back a few minutes in operations," he said.

Meanwhile, United and American have occupied the bottom rungs of the industry ladder for the past three years. American canceled nearly 2% of its flights last year. That ranked worst among big airlines in that category.

United had the highest rate among its peers of involuntarily bumping ticketed passengers from flights.

United and American both promised big improvement in 2013 after major problems in prior years. And both saw some, especially in on-time performance. But it wasn't enough to catch rivals, even as those rivals' reliability declined.

United, which saw on-time arrivals perk up to 79.4%, from about 76.5% in 2012, says its improvements are gaining momentum and internal customer-satisfaction surveys are showing big gains since mid-2012, when it was still struggling with its merger with Continental Airlines.

Last year, 43,000 front-line employees took new customer-service training, including techniques borrowed from the hospitality industry. It was the first time United offered recurrent customer-service training to all front-line workers. United also began collecting more specific data on its operation, such as how often jet bridges get hooked up to planes right away after arrival.

"We have had a material improvement but we know we have more to do," said Jeffrey Foland, executive vice president for marketing, technology and strategy.

Vice Chairman James Compton, who oversees United's operations, said the airline also focused more on maintenance, recalibrating the number of spare planes available and the inventory of spare parts at key airports. Improving maintenance helped reduce long delays, he said.

A spokeswoman for American said the carrier is intensely focused on its merger with US Airways, and improving reliability will be a fundamental goal of the new company. "In this next year, you'll see American step forward with a renewed focus on our customers' needs, as well as making safety and reliability part of the fabric of the new company," she said.

Mr. Van de Ven said Southwest's baggage handling, worst among the nine carriers in the scorecard, reflects not only the heavy volume that comes from not charging baggage fees but also the airline's willingness to accept bags late for check-in. To reduce mishandled bags, the airline would have to get more restrictive with customers.

Southwest is upgrading baggage sorters and equipment in the next year or two at its major airports, he said. And the airline can point to its industry-leading low rate of customer complaints filed at the DOT.

Write to Scott McCartney at middleseat@wsj.com

See original article at: http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/best-worst-airlines-041600845.html

[RA1]

No one seems to want to make any comments on this topic. I have to say that there is no such thing as first class any longer on US airlines. With the advent of the TSA and "lower prices" we are all riding buses. The pilots are still professional and the safety is still paramount but the service and frequency, etc. is all but none existent. So sorry to say.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest lurkerspeaks]

what lower prices are you referring to ? It seems to me that prices go up higher and higher each year for airfares

[RA1]

I know what you mean but fares are cheaper than they would be with inflation alone. Fuel has gone up in excess of 1,000 per cent but fares have not gone up that much. I completely realize that it is apples and tangerines because there is no such thing as the "average" service we got in the 70's, before deregulation. Flights are fuller and the TSA is there to annoy everyone before every flight.

It is difficult to imagine now but in the 70's I could walk up to a flight without a reservation and expect to get on within 10 minutes of the departure. No "security", no full flights, just show up and go, especially with such as Delta Scrip which was an early method to write your own ticket. If you were going on a multi-leg flight, you needed to just stop by the not busy ticket counter and exchange your DL scrip for all the coupons needed for your flight. In other words, write on your DL scrip, MEM-MIA and get two boarding passes that said, MEM-ATL and ATL-MIA.

I often left the general aviation side of the airport for the airline side with fewer than 15 minutes before the flight and had no problem getting on. The flights were pleasant and seldom was there a passenger in the middle seat or next to you in a double row. Only on "busy" days.

Those days are long gone.

However, the aircraft I fly has so far never left without me and I never have left without my passengers. Our security consists of, is everyone here? We leave 5 minutes after everyone is on board.

Best regards,

RA1

[Guest tomcal]

American Airlines doesn't seem to rank very high on most of these stats, but I have never had a problem with them! I have flown almost 4 million miles with them(since I started flying AA in '95, prior I had accumulated 500,000 miles on Continental) I am almost always upgraded domestically and they give 8 international upgrades a year if you achieve status with them each calendar year. The only flights that seem to get delayed are the ones from DFW to GIG which always seem to arrive from 1/2 hr to 1 hour late.

Their partners, British Air(when I go to Prague) and Qantas(when I go to Australia) I have flown several times and they have been great as well.

[Guest zipperzone]

No one seems to want to make any comments on this topic. I have to say that there is no such thing as first class any longer on US airlines. With the advent of the TSA and "lower prices" we are all riding buses.

Best regards,

RA1

Isn't Business Class almost the same as First Class used to be? Especially on international flights......

[RA1]

Not to argue with you but first class is almost what business class used to be. Years ago when I often flew standby on DL from Heathrow to ATL they put us into business class which included a better meal, a headset for the movie and all the drinks you wanted + a bigger, better seat. Today, on a few flights internationally, in first, yes, you can get a flat bed + a lot of room but that is only selected flights of pretty long distance. However, one pays thousands of dollars for very little more or so it seems to me.

A wide seat with leg room and no middle seat is 90% of what I prefer. But, then, what I am really looking for is the left seat aka pilot in command of the aircraft/flight.

Best regards,

RA1