US airlines rate poorly

The US airline industry received its lowest ever annual Airline Quality Ratings (AQR) score in 2007, according to the latest report.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) and Wichita State University (WSU) looked at the quality of airline service of the 16 large domestic US airlines.

The airlines declined in all areas of performance, including denied boardings, mishandled bags, on-time flights and customer complaints.

Professor Brent Bowen of UNO said he does not expect to see improvement in the near future and called for greater accountability.

Air Tran, Jet Blue and Southwest were the best performing airlines, while Comair, American Eagle, and Atlantic Southeast rated lowest.

The AQR is an industry standard that allows consumers to compare quality among airlines using objective performance-based data.