Bad PR Aside, Study Says U.S. Airline Service Improved In 2017

Investing.com - Airlines suffered a lot of bad publicity in 2017, but their overall performance was actually the best on record, according to a closely-watched study.Now in its 28th year, the Airline Quality Rating study tracks the nation's 12 largest airlines in four key categories and found improvement in three of the four in 2017The rates of consumer complaints, involuntary denied boardings and mishandled baggage all declined from 2017.The on-time arrival rate, however, was worse than the year before.The study also ranks the airlines in terms of individual performance. Nine of the 12 airlines scored better than they did in 2017. Alaska Airlines was No.1, for the second year in a row, just edging out Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL). Rounding out the top five were JetBlue, Hawaiian Airlines and Southwest Airlines. Spirit Airlines ranked last.