United Is the Meanest Airline In the U.S.
Mon, Apr 11, 2011
U.S. News & World Report just released the results of a new survey about airlines in the U.S.
The Airline Quality Ratings looked at factors like on-time performance, mishandled baggage, and customer complaints. And they found that, overall, the “meanest” major airline is… United. United came in last place thanks mostly to its high customer complaint rate. Only Delta had more customer complaints.
Among regional carriers, American Eagle scored the worst due to its high number of mishandled bags and involuntary flight bumpings.
Here are the five worst major airlines in the biz:
5. Delta
4. Continental
3. Frontier
2. American Airlines
1. United Airlines
And the five worst regional airlines are:
5. SkyWest
4. Mesa
3. Comair
2. Atlantic Southeast
1. American Eagle
Here are some of the other “highlights” from the survey:
Highest complaint rate: Delta
Most likely to be unsafe: JetBlue. JetBlue had 17 documented “incidents” out of approximately 219,000 flights in 2010, which is obviously still really safe.
Most likely to overcharge for bags: Delta, US Airways and Continental
Most mishandled bags: American Eagle. American Eagle had the most incidents of mishandled baggage at 7.15 reports per 1,000 passengers. and the highest rate of involuntary denied boardings rate (4.02 per 10,000 passengers).
Most likely to involuntarily bump you: American Eagle. American Eagle had the highest rate of involuntary denied boardings at 4 per 10,000 passengers.
Worst on-time rate: Comair. In 2010, only 73.1% of Comair’s flights arrived on time.
At the other end of the spectrum, the five “kindest” airlines are:
5. Southwest
4. Alaska Airlines
3. JetBlue
2. Hawaiian Airlines
1. AirTran
Southwest is pretty great, but I also really like Virgin airlines.
Jetpacker 
gillian 
Fab 
Ha! I hate United, so I feel sort of vindicated.
Southwest is pretty great, but I also really like Virgin airlines.
Virgin America is hands-down my favorite domestic carrier. I was surprised they weren’t on the “best” list, but I think it’s because they’re not big enough to qualify. I believe an airline needed a certain number of flights a day to be considered, and Virign is still relatively small compared to all the other non-regional carriers.
my family of 5 flew on united coming back from Los Angeles in February after a lovely vacation on the wet coast. One of my 6 year old twins became ill shortly after take off and spent the entire flight vomiting in a bag and running to the bathroom. At no point during the flight did one crew offer to help or even inquire as to my childs well being, we were even almost denied access to the 1st class bathroom with my child holding an sickness bag over her face until i advised the others were full. she even vomited as we excited the plain in plain view of all crew members , while we juggled all of our carry on and 2 other small children-not one word was uttered nor did anyone offer a hand-on top of that after a 5 hour wait flight was cancelled!!! disgusting people
my family of 5 flew on united coming back from Los Angeles in February after a lovely vacation on the wet coast. One of my 6 year old twins became ill shortly after take off and spent the entire flight vomiting in a bag and running to the bathroom. At no point during the flight did one crew offer to help or even inquire as to my childs well being, we were even almost denied access to the 1st class bathroom with my child holding an sickness bag over her face until i advised the others were full. she even vomited as we excited the plain in plain view of all crew members , while we juggled all of our carry on and 2 other small children-not one word was uttered nor did anyone offer a hand-on top of that after a 5 hour wait our next flight was cancelled!!! disgusting people
Traveling around for the last 25 years for Business.
United is the worth Airline of the World not only USA
I leave in Europe and have never seen anything like United
It seems to be a strategy to eb so bad
Ha! f**k you United Airlines. Your the between airlines Delta and I like to her that. Congratulations Airtran Airways for be America’s Kindest airlines.