Southwest regains No. 1 spot in quality survey

Airline industry facing more dissatisfaction from customers overall, researchers find Southwest Airlines Co. regained the top spot for highest quality among the nation's

Tuesday, April 11th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Airline industry facing more dissatisfaction from customers overall, researchers find

Southwest Airlines Co. regained the top spot for highest quality among the nation's 10 major airlines, but the overall industry continues to suffer from a growing level of customer dissatisfaction, according to an annual airline quality study released Monday.

Dallas-based Southwest jumped back into first place from fifth place in last year's study, thanks to fewer mishandled bags and fewer bumped passengers. With the top ranking, the low-fare domestic carrier has now won the No. 1 spot in four of the last five years.

"We're very proud of our performance," said Southwest spokeswoman Christine Turneabe-Connelly.

The Airline Quality Rating study, which is co-written by two professors at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha, ranks airline quality based on 1999 performance in 14 areas measured by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The areas include on-time arrivals, involuntary denied boardings, mishandled baggage and customer complaints ranging from flight problems and refunds to advertising and customer service.

Southwest led the list, followed by Continental Airlines of Houston, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, US Airways, Fort Worth-based American Airlines, America West, Trans World Airlines and United Airlines.
In this year's study, American, the nation's second-largest airline, dropped to seventh place from third place last year. After US Airways, which won the top score in last year's study, American experienced the second-largest drop in its quality score.

American suffered from fewer on-time arrivals, more mishandled bags and a higher number of customer complaints. The only improvement came in its ability to reduce the number of bumped passengers.

American attributed much of its ratings drop to the effects of a pilots' sickout in February 1999 that canceled nearly 6,700 flights as well as weather delays. Until the 1999 study, either Southwest or American had finished first each year since the first came out in 1991.

"We are disappointed with the results of the ranking," said American spokesman Mark Kienzle. "It's no secret that last year was a difficult year for the airline and the rest of the industry. We're striving constantly to run an on-time airline."

Since the study first began tracking airline quality, the industry's performance has steadily declined, and last year was no exception. On average, the 10 major airlines saw their on-time arrival rate slip to 76.1 percent from 77.2 percent in 1998. The rate of bumped passengers inched up to 0.88 per 10,000 passengers from 0.87 a year ago. And consumer complaints soared 130 percent to 2.48 complaints per 100,000 passengers from 1.08 in 1998.

The rate of mishandled bags fell to 5.08 per 1,000 passengers from 5.16.Last spring, the outcry against the industry's service led to calls for a so-called passenger bill of rights to force airlines to compensate passengers for long delays, set deadlines for carriers to respond to customer complaints and increased fees for lost or damaged bags.

To avert more regulations, the industry pledged industry forged a compromise with Congress last June, pledging to adopt voluntary customer service plans. Under these guidelines, airlines agreed to give passengers more information about delays; quote the lowest fares available when asked; and provide restrooms and food during lengthy delays.

Most of these customer service plans did not go into effect until mid-December. The government is monitoring these efforts and will assess progress in a report this June.
But the study's authors questioned whether these efforts, in the face of a growing number of travelers, will improve the situation.

This year, only three airlines - Southwest, Northwest and Alaska - improved their overall score. Northwest showed the most improvement, followed by Alaska and Southwest.

TWA enjoyed the best on-time performance while America West scored the worst.
Southwest had the fewest complaints, and America West had the most. Northwest bumped the fewest passengers while Delta bumped the most. Southwest lost or mishandled fewer bags than any of its rivals, while United fared the worst.