United Is Again Ranked the Worst Airline in the U.S.
Jeff Edwards August 12, 2014
According to an annual survey of U.S. airlines, United ranks as the worst carrier for the third year in a row.
According to an annual survey of airlines in the United States, United Airlines is the worst carrier for the third year in a row. The rankings, which were compiled by airfarewatchdog.com, were based on reports from the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) and data released by the Department of Transportation (DOT). The rankings took into account the number of canceled flights, on-time arrivals, denied boardings and customer satisfaction of each carrier. Delta Air Lines took first place.
In a statement released alongside the 2014 rankings, the report’s authors referred to Delta as “this year’s unsung hero,” noting that for two years running, “Delta has been stuck on the wrong side of the rankings.”
The report ranked Virgin America second in overall performance. Alaska Airlines ranked third, followed respectively by JetBlue Airways, Frontier Airlines, Southwest Airlines, American Airlines and United. In last year’s rankings, US Airways and AirTran were ranked as independent airlines. This year, the rankings grouped US Airways with American and AirTran with Southwest.
United also ranked last in consumer satisfaction based on the survey released by the ACSI in April. The report noted that United has continued to struggle with passenger service since merging with Continental in 2010.
[Photo: United Airlines]
This is well deserved. The two flights I took were both severely delayed, MX, but not acknowledged. Weather, ATC, were excuses initially provided, but thanks to smartphones, they were quickly shown to be not the case. After that, just rude silence. Contract of carriage was not produced when asked for either.
I disagree with ffl. I have gold status with delta and I"m upgraded as often as 1K on united. My flights on Delta are generally on-time where as virtually every United flight in and out of O'hare has a problem. Case in point, my current flight is delayed, just like every other Thursday for the last 6 weeks. I have found better award availability with AA. United's search engine isn't that great...some partners aren't shown and you often have to brute force individual legs to find availability If I wasn't close to the 2 MM mark, I would seriously consider switching to AA or DL as my primary airline choice
I heard that United is changing their name to Aeroflot in an effort to improve their image!
UA frequent flyer program before merger kept me dedicated to United, no matter an extra segment or a higher fare. Now with the large devaluation in the program, loss of US Airways as an earning or redeeming partner, and increased use of regional jets, I've moved over to AA despite being a lifetime million mile flyer with UA.
AA/US have a lot to be proud of, top 7 and all. I can't say that Delta is that much better than AA and UA, but those numbers don't lie. They are good. Surprised by Southwest's low on-time %.