Wichita State University has released the 30th annual Airline Quality Ratings, showing a decline in performance for major airlines even before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country.

Allegiant was the top performing airline for the calendar year 2019, and this was the first time the airline was included in the survey.   Wichita State professor Dean Headley said Allegant performed very well in the category of mishandled baggage, and that put them at the top of the overall performance list.

Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance, while Frontier had the worst.   Delta and Hawaiian had the lowest rates of involuntary denied boardings, while American had the highest rate.   Allegiant had the best baggage handling while American ranked at the bottom.    Southwest had the lowest rate of consumer complaints and Spirit had the highest rate.

Dr. Headley said nine airlines had poorer performance in all four of the categories tracked in the survey, compared to 2018.   Mishandled baggage rates were higher mainly because of the change in the way the rates are calculated.    The rates in 2019 were the number of mishandled bags per 1,000 checked bags.  Previously it was figured by the number of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.

The airlines measured in the survey were Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Frontier, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United.

The air travel industry has been severely impacted by the coronavirus in 2020, and Dr. Headley said it will take some time, two years or longer, for the airlines to recover.  He said airlines will have to figure out how to screen passengers in the future.   He said airlines will have to balance safety with the need to get more people on board, and that’s something that air travelers will have to pay attention to.  He said travelers will have to stay prepared and alert, “Take care of yourself, be mindful of others more so than ever, because that’s what we have to do to get this thing (coronavirus) slowed down.”