U.S. News Rates 'America's Meanest Airlines' For 2011
U.S. News & World Report rated United as the "meanest" in the country. Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images hide caption
U.S. News & World Report rated United as the "meanest" in the country.
Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty ImagesAccording to 2011's Airline Quality Rating report, flying is getting better in the country. The researchers found that the industry experienced a slightly better percentage of on-time arrivals; passengers had to deal with less mishandled luggage and overbooked flights caused slightly fewer problems in 2010 than in 2009. In 2010, Air Tran earned the highest Airline Quality Rating Score, followed by Hawaiian Airlines and Jet Blue.
U.S. News & World Report, however, dug through the data to find the worst-performing airlines. So what airlines ranked as top three worst performers among the national carriers?
'America's Meanest Airlines'
1. United Airlines
"United had the unfortunate distinction of placing second on Business Insider's "The 18 Worst Companies in America" list. High baggage fees haven't helped the company's image."
2. American Airlines
"In 2010, AA was fifth worst in total consumer complaints among all airlines surveyed, with 1.44 complaints reported per 100,000 passengers."
3. Frontier
U.S. News reports that the airline's on-time performance improved, but its customer complaints and mishandled baggage, "took Frontier in the wrong direction."