Survey: U.S. airline service worsens

John Hughes

Monday, April 4, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

Service worsened at nearly three- fourths of U.S. airlines last year as fewer employees handled a growing number of passengers, according to a survey by two academics who follow the industry.

US Airways Group Inc., the seventh-biggest U.S. carrier, had the largest drop in quality. Only four of 14 carriers showed improvement from a year earlier, the first time performance deteriorated at most carriers at least since 1999, said Dean Headley, an associate professor of marketing at Wichita State University and co-researcher of the study.

"You've just got less people doing the same number of jobs," Headley said in an interview. "The customer will inevitably feel that."

JetBlue Airways Corp., a low-cost carrier based in New York, finished No. 1 for the second-consecutive year, according to the report released at a Washington news conference today. AirTran Holdings Inc. was second, followed by Southwest Airlines Co. Southwest ranked third for the third-consecutive year.

After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, airlines cut 118,000 jobs, or 23 percent of the workforce, as they tried to stem $33 billion in losses since that year. The smaller workforce last year handled domestic traffic that was up 15 percent since 2001. The annual "Airline Quality Rating" grades carriers on delays, complaints, lost bags and passengers bumped from flights because of overbooking.

US Airways, operating in its second bankruptcy in two years, showed declines in all four categories, Headley said.

"It's an attitude thing," he said. "The longer you linger in that kind of uncertain state for your employee group, the worse it's going to get." The carrier was rated fifth last year.

A government inspector's report last month blamed US Airways flight disruptions during the Christmas holidays on managers who failed to adjust to a staffing shortage. The disruptions for 560,000 passengers prompted 72,000 baggage complaints.

Headley said five of the six top-ranked airlines for service were low-cost carriers: JetBlue, AirTran, Southwest, Alaska Air Group Inc. and America West Holdings Corp.