Transportation

Spirit Airlines at Bottom of Consumer Reports Airline Ratings

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: March 15, 2018 11:30 am

Last Updated: January 12, 2020 2:23 am

Consumer Reports has issued its airline quality ratings. Spirit Airlines Inc. (NYSE: SAVE) finished dead last in the survey that rated both coach/economy and business/first-class experiences.

The coach/economy ratings had by far the larger sample size. According to Consumer Report:

Ratings are based on our Summer 2017 survey of 52,507 Consumer Reports’ members reporting on their experiences on 97,765 economy class domestic flights between July 2016 and June 2017. Economy included basic economy, economy, and premium economy flights. The Reader Score represents overall satisfaction with the flight experience and is not exclusively determined by factors under the survey results. A reader score of 100 would mean all respondents are completely satisfied; 80, that respondents are “very satisfied”, and 60, that respondents are “somewhat satisfied” on average.

Spirit received a rating of 62. The rating of Frontier Airlines was not much better at 63. Among the nation’s largest carriers, United Continental Holdings Inc.’s (NYSE: UAL) United Airlines finished at the bottom with a rating of 67. American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) was next up the list at 68. Delta Air Lines Inc. (NYSE: DAL) had a rating of 75. JetBlue Airways Corp. (NASDAQ: JBLU) rated 83, and Southwest Airlines Co. (NYSE: LUV) was at the top of the major carrier’s list with a rating of 85.

Among smaller carriers, Allegiant had a rating of 70. Hawaiian Airlines had a rating of 80, while Virgin Air (which has merged with Alaska Air) had a rating of 83. Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE: ALK) topped the list of smaller carriers with a score of 84.

For the business/first-class rating, the sample was much smaller:

Ratings are based on our Summer 2017 survey of 5,059 Consumer Reports’ members reporting on their experiences on 8,702 first or business class domestic flights between July 2016 and June 2017. The Reader Score represents overall satisfaction with the flight experience and is not exclusively determined by factors under the survey results. A reader score of 100 would mean all respondents are completely satisfied; 80, that respondents are “very satisfied”, and 60, that respondents are “somewhat satisfied” on average.

United finished at the bottom of this portion of the survey with a rating of 79. Next, American had a rating of 80. Delta topped the list of major carriers in the category with a rating of 85. Two small carriers topped the list: Alaska Air and Hawaiian Airlines both had ratings of 89.