| Airline Quality Rankings
US Airways was rated the top airline in the 1999 Airline Quality Rating study. The rating is conducted annually by the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University and the University of Nebraska at Omaha Aviation Institute to provide consumers and industry watchers with a means to compare airline quality using objective performance-based data.
The AQR ranked the 10 major airlines as follows:
- US Airways
- Continental
- American
- Delta
- Southwest
- America West
- TWA
- Alaska
- Northwest
- United
The report summarizes month-by-month quality ratings for major domestic U.S. airlines operating during 1998. A major airline, as defined by the U.S. Department of Transportation, is an airline whose operating revenue for a 12-month period is $1 billion or more. Co-researchers Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at WSU, and Brent Bowen, director of the UNO Aviation Institute, used 15 elements important to consumers when judging the quality of airline services.
Criteria include areas such as baggage handling, on-time arrivals, denied boardings and 12 elements of customer service.
"The data for 1999 shows us that consumers are near the breaking point with dissatisfaction as the quality curve slopes downward," Bowen said. "The airlines are implementing rule changes and policies that aggravate the traveling public. We support the initiative in Congress to pass an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights."
Other major industry findings in this year's research study include:
- Overall operational quality for the industry declined during 1998.
- There was a 26% increase in consumer complaints.
- Passengers were bumped less frequently in 1998.
- Bags were more frequently mishandled in 1998.
- A slight decrease in on-time performance was noted.
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