JetBlue Earns Its Wings as Best Low-Cost Airline

Low-cost carriers continue to lead in improving passenger satisfaction, while traditional carriers still struggle to meet travelers' expectations, a survey found.

JetBlue Airlines again takes top rankings in terms of airline customer satisfaction, followed closely by Alaska Airlines, according to J.D. Power and Associates’ 2012 North America Airline Satisfaction Study.

Meanwhile, traditional airlines, such Delta, Continental and American Airlines, are losing customer service altitude. Although satisfaction with low-cost carriers improves for the third straight year (increasing three index points from 2011 to an average 754 on a 1,000-point scale), satisfaction with traditional carriers declines four points, to 647.

"Passengers want it all, but they are not necessarily willing to pay for it all,” said Stuart Greif, vice president and general manager of the global travel and hospitality practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “Carriers often must make decisions for financial reasons that they know will negatively impact passenger satisfaction, and therein lies the conundrum."

After two years of consecutive industry improvements, overall passenger satisfaction has declined slightly, to 681 index points, down from 683 in 2011, according to the survey.

The study measures customer satisfaction in seven categories: cost and fees; in-flight services; boarding, deplaning and baggage; flight crew; aircraft; check-in; and reservations.

Costs and fees continue to play a key role. Checked baggage fees are a customer sore point and have a notable impact, with satisfaction averaging 85 points lower among passengers who pay to check bags. For example, two carriers with the highest satisfaction scores in the study—JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines—do not charge passengers to check the first bag. Additionally, Air Canada, which also does not charge for the first bag, performs particularly well among the traditional network carriers in the cost and fees factor.