Budget Airlines Service Gets High Marks

There's a new report, annual Airline Quality Rating report, out on airline service quality. Overall, the report states that the airlines service quality has worsened from last year. However, for budget airline travelers the report has some good news: budget airlines get high marks for their service. In fact, led by JetBlue, budget carriers delivered better service than most traditional airlines 2004.

The survey takes into account such measures as how many flights arrived on time, how many passangers were denied boarding, how much luggage was lost, and how many travelers registered complaints.

Of the budget carriers, AirTran had the lowest lost-baggage rate (2.8 bags lost per 1,000 passengers), Southwest had the fewest passenger complaints, and SkyWest was the leader in on-time performance.

No wonder then that the market share for low cost carriers is currently at 25% and increasing.