Which Airline Ranks No. 1 In Customer Service? The Rankings Are Here

For top-level airline service -- on-time arrivals, fewer canceled flights, luggage arriving intact, and overall customer satisfaction -- don't fly the major legacy carriers. Fly Frontier.

By Rich Smith – Nov 9, 2013 at 9:00AM EST

Which airline gives you the best customer service? I'll give you a hint: The answer isn't any of the major "legacy" carriers. (Shocker, I know.)

Mega-carriers US Airways (NYSE: LCC), American (still owned by AMR), and United (now part of United Continental (UAL 3.02%) may be some of the biggest airlines in the country, but according to a recent survey conducted by Airfarewatchdog, they're far from the best, ranking eighth, ninth, and 10^th on the consumer advocate's list of the Top 10 carriers.

Even Delta Air Lines (DAL 1.24%) sports only a sixth-place rating on Airfarewatchdog's list. And Southwest's (LUV 1.65%) two brands -- Southwest proper and AirTran -- bracket Delta in fifth and seventh places, respectively.

No, when it comes to providing top-level service for getting planes to arrive on time, running flights instead of canceling them, delivering baggage and passengers to their intended destination, and overall customer satisfaction, the No. 1 airline in the nation is Frontier Airlines, a subsidiary of Republic Airways (NASDAQ: RJET).

Here's how the rankings stack up, from top to bottom:

Airline	Rank
Frontier	1st Place
Virgin America	2^nd Place
JetBlue	3^rd Place
Alaska	4^th Place
Southwest	5^th Place
Delta	6^th Place
AirTran	7^th Place
US Airways	8^th Place
American	9^th Place
United	10^th Place

How did Frontier Airlines earn "best in show"?
Digging into the details on Airfarewatchdog's multiple surveys, which add up to the overall results shown above, the results do seem a bit curious.

Frontier actually doesn't rank No. 1 in any of the subcategories examined. It's not No. 1 in uncanceled flights (that's Virgin America), or in on-time arrivals (Alaska Air holds that honor). Frontier's not the best in baggage handling, denied boardings, or customer satisfaction, either. Top marks in these categories go to Virgin, JetBlue, and JetBlue (again), respectively.

Yet according to Airfarewatchdog, Frontier does a good enough job in each individual category to make it the best airline to fly, overall.

Maybe that's why when it comes to picking "feeder" regional airlines to supply them, even the majors turn to Frontier's own parent company, Republic, to connect them with passengers aboard brands American Eagle, US Airways Express, and United Express.

Apparently, good enough for them is also good enough for us.

Rich Smith is a contributing Motley Fool defense and stock market analyst covering publicly traded and emerging companies in defense, space, aerospace, and other sectors. Prior to The Motley Fool, Rich practiced international corporate law for Clifford Chance in Russia, and for the Russian-Ukrainian Legal Group in Moscow, Kyiv, and Washington, D.C. He holds a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the College of William & Mary, a law degree from the University of Baltimore, and a language certification from the International Institute of Russian Language & Culture in Tver, Russian Federation. The Globe and Mail once featured him as “one of the best stock pickers since 2009.”

TMFDitty

@RichSmithFool

Which Airline Ranks No. 1 In Customer Service? The Rankings Are Here

Read Next

About the Author

Stocks Mentioned

Premium Investing Services