Report: Northwest top rated major, Hawaiian top overall

[nwafan20]

Northwest top-rated major carrier in airline quality study
April 2, 2007

By JEWEL GOPWANI

FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER

Northwest Airlines was one of two carriers that improved their performances, coming in as the highest ranked major carrier in an annual study of airline quality.

Northwest, the largest carrier at Detroit Metro Airport, raised its ranking from No. 7 in 2005 to No. 5 last year after posting fewer customer complaints, mishandled bags and bumped passengers. The carrier also improved its on-time rating.

Northwest’s performance runs against industry trends that surfaced in the Airline Quality Rating study by professors at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and Wichita State University.

Of the 18 airlines included in the study, which is based on Department of Transportation data, on-time arrivals in the industry dropped nearly two percentage points to 75.5%. Overall, passengers reported more mishandled bags and more incidents of being bumped.

One issue affecting customer service is passenger traffic. There are as many people flying as there were before Sept. 11, 2001, but fewer flights – 18-20% less seating capacity, one of the study’s authors, Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at Wichita State University, said in a statement.

An industry group for airlines, the Air Transport Association, said that many of the problems outlined in the study stem from weather and flight delays caused by congested skies and what the association calls and “outdated and inefficient air-traffic control system.”

In 2006, Hawaiian Airlines beat out 2005’s No. 1, JetBlue Airways. Commuter carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines performed worst, coming in at 18th.

Here are airline rankings, according to the Airline Quality Ranking:

1. Hawaiian Airlines
2. JetBlue Airways
3. Air Tran
4. Frontier Airlines
5. Northwest Airlines
6. Southwest Airlines
7. Continental Airlines
8. United Airlines
9. Alaska Airlines
10. American Airlines
11. ATA
12. Delta Airlines
13. U.S. Airways
14. SkyWest Airlines
15. Mesa
16. Comair
17. American Eagle
18. Atlantic Southeast


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[hiss srq]

Lets ask the employees the same question though.

[nwafan20]

The thread isn't really about NW, although the flight attendants are the only group who doesn't have a contract. The others accepted the cuts.

Now, why is Hawaiian always on top? Anyone have any guesses?

[hiss srq]

Because they have a very small network and operation compareatively to the other carriers and the network they do have is not sprawled over a vast expanse. I do not think they belong in a ranking like this with other carriers really. They fly to too few places and carry too few people with too small a fleet. I kind of got a chuckle out of t he neumber two ranking carrier.

[nwafan20]

Yeah, I was shocked to see Jetblue on there with all the incidents, but I suppose those will count towards next years report, this one is for 2006.

[RDU-JFK]

The thread isn't really about NW, although the flight attendants are the only group who doesn't have a contract. The others accepted the cuts.

Now, why is Hawaiian always on top? Anyone have any guesses?

Another reason might be that yo're always flying in between nice destinations, including Hawaii, as opposed to Comair, where you're probably flying from LaGuardia to Cincinnati. Give me LAX-Honolulu any day! They could delay the flight for a few hours and I'd still be thrilled about going to Hawaii!

[Mellyrose]

I've flown on Hawaiian twice, and when you're flying for that long without stopping, it really is important that you're comfortable and everything goes right. The staff is friendly, the planes are pretty and comfortable (inside as well), movie selections were good (when I was on), and I don't remember any delays. I also remember VERY quick boarding for a fully booked 767.

That's really all I can say. I think the fact that all I remember are positive things, while nothing really stands our as fabulous, is a good thing.

[Alex T]

I would be picky and careful how you word it, NWA should be the number one LEGACY Airline.

After all, the other airlines, air tran, jetblue and such ARE in fact Majors.

Ryan- HA is indeed large enough according to the studies to be counted among the airlines.

According to my Southwest report, we carried over 96 million passengers in 2006, and only got 175 complaints. Not bad at all!

Alex