For consumer complaints, United near worst, Southwest near best

SOUTHWEST AIRLINES had the second-fewest number of consumer complaints of the 12 largest airline carriers in the country last year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. / COURTESY SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES had the second-fewest number of consumer complaints of the 12 largest airline carriers in the country last year, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. / COURTESY SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

WARWICK – United Airlines had the second-highest number of consumer complaints of the 12 largest airline carriers in the country last year, while Southwest Airlines had the second-fewest, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
United was only behind Frontier Airlines in terms of consumer complaints nationwide. Unlike United and Southwest, Frontier does not fly out of T.F. Green Airport.
United had 2.71 complaints per 100,000 enplanements, an increase from 2.41 complaints per 100,000 enplanements in 2013.
Regarding United’s 2,452 nationwide complaints last year, 745 were for flight problems, 430 were for baggage issues and 286 were for customer service.
In comparison, Southwest had 0.53 complaints per 100,000 passengers in 2014. Its numbers included data for AirTran Airways, which Southwest recently acquired.
Southwest’s 714 complaints included 240 for flight problems, 150 for baggage and 92 for customer service.
US Airways, as part of American Airlines, was third for most complaints, with 2.24 per 100,000, or 1,290 total complaints; the most, 457, were for flight problems, followed by 157 baggage complaints and 132 customer service complaints.
JetBlue Airways Corp. was fifth on the list, with 1.17 complaints per 100,000 enplanements, and Delta Airlines had 0.72 complaints per 100,000 enplanements, ranking it 10th.
Flight problems were the main issue for JetBlue, with 176 complaints, and Delta, which had 301 complaints in that category.
Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time rate at 91.9 percent out of the 12 airlines. Delta was No. 3 with 83.7 percent, United was No. 7 with 76 percent, JetBlue was No. 8 with 75.4 percent and Southwest was No. 10 with 73.5 percent.
The complaint average among 12 large airlines was 1.38 per 100,000 enplanements last year, up from 1.14 in 2013.
Southwest had the largest market share at T.F. Green in December at 47.2 percent, followed by US Airways at 24 percent; Delta Airlines, with 12.9 percent market share; JetBlue, with 8.5 percent market share; and United, with 7.1 percent market share.

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