The 2011 Middle Seat Scorecard

The Leader in Lost Bags, Canceled Flights - WSJ.com

In the latest rankings, American places last in customer service; Alaska tops the list and Delta makes a big turnaround from the previous year. The annual Middle Seat scorecard ranks airline carriers on key measures as reported by the DOT and FlightStats.com - on-time arrivals, long delays, canceled flights, mishandled bags, bumped passengers and passenger complaints filed.

Its interesting that Southwest who doesn't charge for checked bags, had the second-worse rate of mishandled bags; only American was worse.

To see all rankings on the scorecard:

http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/i...0104173004.jpg

Did not see Continental on the list - guess they are ranked with US Air due to the merger? Continental is the only airline I have used for the past 10 years and have never had any issues with them on delays, bags, etc.

I really think it is so hard to generalize about an airline company. I have had good and bad experiences with each and every one. Everytime I am ready to write off an airline, they do something to make we happy......so....I just go with price and routes!!

Since I don't understand the construct of many of these ranking systems, I tend to question their validity. On any given day, any flight and passenger(s) can be affected by a number of conditions. I have a business associate who seems to always check at least one bag on every flight and they ALWAYS arrive at the airport at the last possible minute. Their bags seem to get misdirected now and then. Maybe not the total fault of the air carrier.

btw [email protected], I think Continental and United might be combined in this scorecard, since they were the merge twins - not US Air.

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Originally Posted by jsattapr2

Since I don't understand the construct of many of these ranking systems, I tend to question their validity. On any given day, any flight and passenger(s) can be affected by a number of conditions. I have a business associate who seems to always check at least one bag on every flight and they ALWAYS arrive at the airport at the last possible minute. Their bags seem to get misdirected now and then. Maybe not the total fault of the air carrier.

btw [email protected], I think Continental and United might be combined in this scorecard, since they were the merge twins - not US Air.

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For this annual ranking.....

"The Middle Seat scorecard ranks major carriers each year on a number of key measures important to travelers: on-time arrivals, long delays, canceled flights, mishandled bags, passengers bumped from flights and complaints filed with the Department of Transportation. Data come from DOT and FlightStats.com, a flight-tracking service that collects real-time flight information from airlines, airports and the Federal Aviation Administration."

In my humble opinion, the only relevant statistics are those which apply directly to and have been vetted by me. Come on, who in the right mind would believe any statistics supplied the DOT, IRS, TSA and the endless list of other government agencies? I fly several of the listed airlines on a regular basis, arrive early and even check my bags now and then. I'm doing just fine. As for delays, well, guess that has to do a great deal with the airport's geographical locations and the volume of flights by the carriers.

Thanks for posting this information, but I don't see the data influencing my near term booking decisions. Southwest is still a carrier I depend on for regular domestic transportation. Additionally, I enjoy their TV commercials.

Just my opinion.