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Airline Quality Rating: Virgin America is the winner for the third year in a row

Virgin America (San Francisco) claimed the top spot for the third consecutive year, but overall U.S. airline performance slipped in 2014, according to the 25th annual Airline Quality Rating (AQR) released Monday. The AQR is a joint research project at Wichita State University (Wichita, Kansas) and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Arizona, campus.

Overall, the airline industry collectively declined in the AQR’s four core elements of the study: on-time performance, involuntary denied boardings, mishandled baggage and customer complaints.

Co-researchers Dr. Dean Headley and Dr. Brent Bowen agree that the weaker overall performance shows that the recent round of mergers means airlines still have work to do to compete for customer loyalty.

Dr. Headley is the associate professor of marketing at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University. Dr. Bowen is the dean of College of Aviation at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Prescott, Ariz., campus.

An electronic version of the full report, with details on each airline, is available at http://airlinequalityrating.com.

Below is the 2014 numerical ranking of the nation’s leading 12 airlines, according to the AQR, with 2013 ranking in parentheses:

Virgin America (1)
Hawaiian (3)
Delta (4)
JetBlue (2)
Alaska (5)
Southwest (8) (includes AirTran)
American (9) (includes USAirways)
Frontier (11)
United (12) (includes Continental)
SkyWest (14)
ExpressJet (13)
Envoy/ American Eagle (15)

On-time performance – Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance (91.9 percent) for 2014, and Envoy/American Eagle had the worst (68.8 percent).

Denied boardings – Virgin America and Hawaiian are the industry leaders in avoiding denied boarding incidents with a rate of 0.09 and 0.12 per 10,000 passengers, respectively. ExpressJet and SkyWest had the highest involuntary denied boarding rate at 2.71 per 10,000 passengers for both airlines.

Baggage handling – Virgin America had the best baggage handling rate (0.95 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers) and Envoy/American Eagle had the worst baggage handling rate (9.02 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers).

Consumer complaints – Alaska had the lowest consumer complaint rate (0.42 per 100,000 passengers). Frontier had the highest consumer complaint rate (3.91 per 100,000 passengers).

Virgin America took the opportunity to boast about its ranking with this banner ad:

Top Copyright Photo: Michael B. Ing/AirlinersGallery.com. Airbus A320-214 N835VA (msn 4448) of Virgin America taxies to the runway at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA).

Virgin America aircraft slide show:

Airlines for America responds to the 2013 Airline Quality Rating

Airlines for America, the industry trade organization for the leading U.S. airlines says the 2013 Airline Quality Rating report by researchers at Wichita State University and Purdue University misses some key points.

We agree with the report’s findings on improved airline operations. The nation’s carriers achieved the best year for on-time arrivals since 2003, a record-high success rate of 99.97 percent for baggage handling, the lowest cancellation rate since 2002 and reduced tarmac delays. According to data from the Department of Transportation, U.S. airlines had the best year ever for baggage performance with 997 of every 1,000 passengers having their bags properly handled. In addition, 81.85 percent of U.S. airline flights arrived on time – the third best year on record and the highest since 2003. The flight cancellation rate of 1.29 percent was the lowest since 2002 and tarmac delays were also down on a year-over-year basis.

“Flying remains the safest mode of transportation and airlines have shown stellar on time and baggage handling performance, during a time when airfares remain an unmatched bargain,” said A4A Vice President and Chief Economist John Heimlich. “Airlines continue to provide affordable fares and reliable on time service, despite record high jet fuel prices, which have led to a nearly five percent increase in 2012 operating expenses.”

“According to Transportation Security Administration data, the number of checked bags per passenger actually increased slightly from a year ago, yet airline bag-handling continued to improve, in large part due to airline enhancements in baggage systems, vehicles, software and enhanced training,” Heimlich continued. “Despite the increased expenses, in 2012, U.S. airlines reinvested more than $9 billion to further enhance the customer experience through new aircraft, onboard amenities, baggage processing improvements and facilities.”

Airlines’ improved performance could be further enhanced, with a National Airline Policy in place to address the high taxes, growing fuel prices, unnecessary regulations and an outdated air traffic control system.

Read the report by Reuters: CLICK HERE

Read the full 2013 Airline Quality Rating: CLICK HERE

The winner is Virgin America, the loser is United Airlines: