It appears that U.S. airlines are trying harder when it comes to customer service.
The Airline Quality Rating (AQR), a program that has been keeping track of U.S. airline service for 29 years, has released its 2019 report, and gave the overall industry its highest score since the ratings were started.
It's the continuation of a trend, as the U.S. airline has shown increased scores for the past four years, according to AQR.
The report looked at the nine largest airlines based in the U.S., scoring them on the recoded number of denied boardings, on-time service, customer complaints and mishandled baggage in 2018. Six airlines saw improvements, while three saw a decline in their scores, according to AQR.
The overall industry improved in three of the four areas tracked, scoring slightly worse in only on-time arrival percentage (80.2 percent to 79.6 percent).
"The 23 percent decrease in the rate of consumer complaints in 2018 suggests that improved performance in important areas to consumers has been noticed by the flying public," the report said.
This is how U.S. airlines ranked in ascending order:
9. Frontier Airlines
Frontier has been sitting at the bottom of the AQR rankings since 2013 and, in 2018, was dead last on the list, with the largest one-year decline of all airlines rated. "On-time performance in 2018 (69.4%) was worse compared to 2017 (78.3%). Frontier’s denied boarding performance (0.63 per 10,000 passengers in 2018 compared to 0.57 in 2017) was also worse," the report noted.
8. American Airlines
American is the world's largest in a number of measures, including fleet size, so its next-to-last quality ranking doesn't reflect well on overall U.S. airline service. Moreover, it has been at or near the bottom of the list since 2011. The airline scored worse on-time arrivals (78.4 percent compared to 80.4 percent in 2018) and baggage handling.
7. Spirit Airlines
Spirit, which describes itself as an ultra-low-cost carrier, showed improvement after ranking last in 2017. The airline saw a reduction in customer complaints, mishandled baggage and involuntary denied boardings, which dropped from 0.82 per 10,000 passengers in 2017 to 0.56. It had the most improved score of all ranked airlines.
6. United Airlines
The third-largest U.S. airline in terms of fleet size and passengers carried, United moved up two spots on the list after finishing eighth in 2017. A reduction in their customer complaint rate to 1.28 in 2018 from 1.89 per 100,000 passengers in 2017 combined with positive performance improvements in involuntary denied boardings moved United’s 2018 AQR score to -0.72 from -0.86 in 2017," the report said.
5. Hawaiian Airlines
The airline had the best on-time performance of all airlines at 89.3 percent, which was up from 88.2 percent in 2017. Its bump rate is also among the nation's best, at 0.01 per 10,000 passengers, down from 0.09 in 2017. It also reduced cases of mishandled luggage, but saw a slight increase in customer complaints.
4. Alaska Airlines
Alaska, the fifth-largest U.S. airline, finished first in the ranking in 2017 but dropped after performing worse in three out of the four categories tracked. Its only improvement was in involuntary denied boardings, which went from 0.23 to 0.32 per 10,000 passengers.
3. Southwest Airlines
Southwest improved its score enough to rise two spots in the ranking, with its highest score since 2011. It improved in all areas except mishandled baggage, which went from 2.83 to 2.89 per 1,000 passengers.
2. JetBlue Airways
JetBlue has consistently been a top AQR performer, finishing no lower than fourth over the past seven years. Its on-time performance was slightly lower, including finishing second-best overall in mishandled baggage.
1. Delta Airlines
Delta, the second-largest U.S. airline, finally topped hte AQR ranking after finishing in second place two years in a row. It improved in three categories and scored about the same in its mishandled baggage score.
