Customer satisfaction with North American airlines is at the
highest level since J.D. Power began doing the airline survey 13 years ago, even
though the industry has been rattled by high-profile incidents with passengers.
Airlines during the past year landed a higher percentage of
their planes on time, lost fewer bags, bumped fewer passengers, and charged
lower fares, according to J.D. Power. As a result, the industry's overall
satisfaction score increased for the fifth straight year.
Still, the airlines' overall score of 756 trailed that of
North American hotels and North American car rental companies' 2016 scores of
806 and 804, respectively. This year's hotel survey is slated to be released
this summer, the car rental survey in the fall.
"Our data shows that, as a whole, the airline industry
has been making marked improvements in customer satisfaction across a variety
of metrics, from ticket cost to flight crew," said Michael Taylor, travel
practice lead at J.D. Power. "As recent events remind us, however,
airlines have significant room for improvement."
Among the carriers, Alaska Airlines topped "traditional"
carriers for the 10th consecutive year, followed by Delta, while Southwest
supplanted JetBlue Airways as the highest-rated low-cost carrier.