JetBlue, Alaska Air Win Customer Satisfaction Awards

(RTTNews) - JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) and Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group, Inc. (ALK), have maintained their top ratings for customer satisfaction in the J.D. Power 2015 North America Airline Satisfaction Study.

The study also found that overall passenger satisfaction with major North America airlines increases by 5 points from last year to 717 on a 1,000-point scale. The increase was mainly driven by customer satisfaction with flight crew, in-flight services, and costs and fees.

New York-based JetBlue was awarded the highest honor in customer satisfaction among low-cost carriers in the survey for the tenth consecutive year, while Alaska Airlines was ranked the highest among traditional carriers for the eighth consecutive year. Traditional carriers are defined as airlines that operate multi-cabin aircraft and use multiple airport hubs.

The study was based on responses from 11,354 passengers who flew on a major North America airline between March 2014 and March 2015. The study measures overall customer satisfaction based on performance in seven measures, in order of importance: cost and fees; in-flight services; boarding/deplaning/baggage; flight crew; aircraft; check-in; and reservation.

Among individual airline ratings, JetBlue's score climbed to 801 on a 1,000-point scale, making it the first airline to ever surpass 800 points within the segment.

JetBlue has received the top recognition in the 'low-cost category' from J.D. Power every year from 2006 to 2015.

The airline also ranked highest in customer satisfaction among all major U.S. airlines in 2005, when low-cost and traditional network carriers were combined in a single category, thus making this year's achievement its eleventh consecutive J.D. Power award.

Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV) took the second position in the low-cost carrier segment.

Meanwhile, Alaska Airlines was ranked the highest of any traditional airline in six of seven categories. These include cost and fees; boarding/deplaning/baggage; flight crew; aircraft; check-in; and reservations.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) ranked second among traditional carriers, and was followed by American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) in the third spot.

According to the study, travelers also ranked Alaska Airlines' Mileage Plan as the highest in overall customer satisfaction for the second consecutive year in the Airline Loyalty/Rewards Program Satisfaction Report.

The report, which measures customer satisfaction with airline reward and loyalty programs, is based on responses from more than 3,000 airline loyalty and reward program members surveyed in March 2015.