Air travel remains one of life’s more stressful activities, but recent data suggest the overall passenger experience is getting better. A Wall Street Journal study that examines airline performance across several traveler-focused measures indicates gradual improvement in key areas.
The WSJ’s annual Middle Seat Scorecard evaluates airlines on seven measures that matter to passengers. Its findings for 2015 highlight several positive trends and some lingering problems among carriers.
Key takeaways from the 2015 analysis include:
- On-time arrivals improved: roughly 80 percent of U.S. airline flights arrived on time in 2015, up from 76 percent in 2014.
- Fewer cancellations: U.S. carriers canceled about 100 fewer flights per day on average compared with the prior year.
- Reduced baggage problems: reports of late or lost bags fell by 9 percent.
- Customer complaints: among the nine airlines examined, Spirit Airlines registered the highest rate of customer complaints in 2015.
- United Airlines performance: United showed gains in several areas but still trailed many competitors across most categories.
- Delta’s consistency: Delta Air Lines improved across all measured categories and remained among the top carriers for on-time performance, baggage handling and involuntary passenger bumping.
- Hawaiian’s strong showing: Hawaiian Airlines earned high marks across the seven categories reviewed.
Overall, the study suggests incremental progress in punctuality, reliability and baggage handling for U.S. carriers in 2015, while customer-service issues remain unevenly distributed across airlines. Travelers still face varying experiences depending on carrier choice, but the broad trends point toward modest improvements in several core areas that affect everyday passengers.