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The Best Airlines for 5 Types of Fliers

Cramped seats, pricey fees, hours spent waiting on the tarmac -- there's plenty to gripe about air travel these days. But it could be that you're just flying with the wrong carrier.

Consumers' ire for airlines has hit record highs in recent years. Airlines are tied with newspapers as the least-liked industry among the 47 tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The latest rating of 65 on a scale of one to 100 is 1.5 percentage points lower than last year and about 10 lower than when the ratings were first taken in 1994. Complaints have surged, too, from 0.97 for every 100,000 passengers in 2009 to 1.22 last year, according to the annual Airline Quality Report. And things are likely to get even worse as travel picks back up, experts say, because schedule cutbacks in leaner times have left little wiggle room for error. "Every time the system ramps up to serve increased customer demand, service quality deteriorates," says Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at Wichita State University, which with Purdue University produces the AQR. "Then the complaints come pouring in."

What's got travelers so upset? More of the usual: Flight problems like delays and cancellations represent a third of the 9,119 complaints the Department of Transportation logged last year; bag problems, reservation, ticketing and boarding snafus and customer service issues account for a big chunk of the rest. "Every week, the airlines seem to come up with something else to anger passengers, whether it's somebody being questioned about their attire, inappropriate TSA searches or flight attendants that are surly," Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.com ."There really is not much refundable on flying experience, unless you are a first class flyer, and even that is not what it was."

Of course, many of us still have to fly - and chartering a private jet or even to pay for the first class is not a solution. For these travelers, SmartMoney reconstituted additional data from the RDA and other recent studies to understand that airlines are the best and worst at the meeting of five leaflets needs: to get a cheap flight, arrive at the time, checking a bag, flying in the comfort of a seat reservation and reward.To be sure, the ability of travelers to fly on the best and avoid the worst is limited largely by where you live and where you are traveling on, and even then there is no guarantee of a trip smoothly. But knowing what you are looking for may at least help you avoid the nasty shock of a fee (taken into account in your budget) or an unexpected narrow seat (paid for this leg room).

The Best Airlines for 5 Types of Fliers | Happy Travel Spot

Cramped seats, pricey fees, hours spent waiting on the tarmac — there’s plenty to gripe about air travel these days. But it could be that you’re just flying with the wrong carrier.

Consumers’ ire for airlines has hit record highs in recent years. Airlines are tied with newspapers as the least-liked industry among the 47 tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index. The latest rating of 65 on a scale of one to 100 is 1.5 percentage points lower than last year and about 10 lower than when the ratings were first taken in 1994. Complaints have surged, too, from 0.97 for every 100,000 passengers in 2009 to 1.22 last year, according to the annual Airline Quality Report. And things are likely to get even worse as travel picks back up, experts say, because schedule cutbacks in leaner times have left little wiggle room for error. “Every time the system ramps up to serve increased customer demand, service quality deteriorates,” says Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at Wichita State University, which with Purdue University produces the AQR. “Then the complaints come pouring in.”

What’s got travelers so upset? More of the usual: Flight problems like delays and cancellations represent a third of the 9,119 complaints the Department of Transportation logged last year; bag problems, reservation, ticketing and boarding snafus and customer service issues account for a big chunk of the rest. “Every week, the airlines seem to come up with something else to anger passengers, whether it’s somebody being questioned about their attire, inappropriate TSA searches or flight attendants that are surly,” Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.com . “There’s really not much redeemable about the flying experience unless you’re a first-class flyer, and even that isn’t what it used to be.”

Of course, many of us still have to fly — and chartering a private jet or even paying up for first-class isn’t a solution. For those travelers, SmartMoney pieced together complementary data from the AQR and other recent studies to figure out which airlines are the best and worst at meeting five of fliers’ needs: getting a cheap flight, arriving on time, checking a bag, flying in comfort and booking a reward seat. To be sure, travelers’ ability to fly on the best and avoid the worst is limited largely by where you live and where you’re traveling to, and even then there’s no guarantee of a smooth trip. But knowing what to look for could at least help you avoid the shock of a nasty fee (factor it into your budget) or unexpectedly cramped seat (pay up for that extra legroom).

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