Least Favorite Airline in US May Not Be Who You Think

It's Spirit, not United
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2017 6:50 PM CDT
Least Favorite Airline in US May Not Be Who You Think
In June 2015 photo, a Spirit Airlines plane approaches Chicago O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. There are few businesses that consumers love to hate more than airlines, but travelers seem to reserve a special level of vitriol for the no-frills, discount airlines.   (Bill Montgomery/Houston Chronicle via AP)

And the airline US passengers hate most is ... Spirit? Yes, the budget carrier came in last on the American Customer Satisfaction Index for the third consecutive year, despite quite a bit of recent negative publicity for fellow airline United. The customer interviews stopped being collected in March, before United's most recent drama; even so, United didn't do all that well either, coming in as the third least-liked. The full ACSI rankings, including airline scores on a 100-point scale, per CNN Money:

  1. JetBlue, 82
  2. Southwest, 80
  3. Alaska, 78
  4. American, 76

  1. Delta, 76
  2. All other airlines, 74
  3. Allegiant, 71
  4. United, 70
  5. Frontier, 63
  6. Spirit, 61
Frontier and Spirit were the only two airlines whose scores actually dropped this year; all the other airlines improved or held steady. (More airline industry stories.)

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