J.D. Power: Alaska Air, Southwest are the USA's best airlines for 2017
Alaska Airlines maintained its decade-long run atop the annual J.D. Power customer service satisfaction survey of "traditional" North American carriers while Southwest unseated long-time champ JetBlue among low-cost airlines.
Alaska Airlines took the top score among traditional carriers for the 10th year in a row. But Southwest emerged as a new No. 1, unseating 11-time title winner JetBlue in the category for low-cost airlines. (Scroll down for a full list of the airline ratings)
Southwest actually earned the top overall mark with 807 points on the 1,000-point scale in J.D. Power's survey of individual airline ratings for 2017. That gave Southwest the top score both in J.D. Power’s "Low-Cost Carrier" category and among all carriers surveyed.
Southwest’s score jumped 18 points from the previous year, when it finished behind JetBlue by just one point. J.D. Power notes the airline “perform(ed) particularly well in all seven factors” used as survey criteria.
JetBlue had the second-highest score among all carriers with 803 points. That marked a 13-point year-over-year improvement, not enough to offset an even bigger jump in Southwest's year-over-year score. Frontier Airlines finished last out of the four "low-cost" carriers in the survey with a score of 663, which was up one point from the prior year.
Alaska Airlines garnered the highest score (765) in the category for "Traditional Carriers," giving it J.D. Power's top score in the category for the 10th year in a row.
Alaska Air bested second-place finisher Delta Air Lines by seven points. Air Canada finished last out of the five "traditional" carriers with a score of 709.
J.D. Power 2017 North America Airline Satisfaction Study
Traditional carriers
1. Alaska Airlines (765 points on a 1,000-point scale)
2. Delta Air Lines (758 points)
Segment average (740 points)
3. American Airlines (736 points)
4. United Airlines (716 points)
5. Air Canada (709 points)
Low-cost carriers
1. Southwest Airlines (807 points on a 1,000-point scale)
2. JetBlue (803 points)
Segment average (784 points)
3. WestJet (736 points)
4. Frontier Airlines (663 points)
Source: USAToday.com
Alaska Airlines took the top score among traditional carriers for the 10th year in a row. But Southwest emerged as a new No. 1, unseating 11-time title winner JetBlue in the category for low-cost airlines. (Scroll down for a full list of the airline ratings)
Southwest actually earned the top overall mark with 807 points on the 1,000-point scale in J.D. Power's survey of individual airline ratings for 2017. That gave Southwest the top score both in J.D. Power’s "Low-Cost Carrier" category and among all carriers surveyed.
Southwest’s score jumped 18 points from the previous year, when it finished behind JetBlue by just one point. J.D. Power notes the airline “perform(ed) particularly well in all seven factors” used as survey criteria.
JetBlue had the second-highest score among all carriers with 803 points. That marked a 13-point year-over-year improvement, not enough to offset an even bigger jump in Southwest's year-over-year score. Frontier Airlines finished last out of the four "low-cost" carriers in the survey with a score of 663, which was up one point from the prior year.
Alaska Airlines garnered the highest score (765) in the category for "Traditional Carriers," giving it J.D. Power's top score in the category for the 10th year in a row.
Alaska Air bested second-place finisher Delta Air Lines by seven points. Air Canada finished last out of the five "traditional" carriers with a score of 709.
J.D. Power 2017 North America Airline Satisfaction Study
Traditional carriers
1. Alaska Airlines (765 points on a 1,000-point scale)
2. Delta Air Lines (758 points)
Segment average (740 points)
3. American Airlines (736 points)
4. United Airlines (716 points)
5. Air Canada (709 points)
Low-cost carriers
1. Southwest Airlines (807 points on a 1,000-point scale)
2. JetBlue (803 points)
Segment average (784 points)
3. WestJet (736 points)
4. Frontier Airlines (663 points)
Source: USAToday.com
