Southwest Ranked Tops among Airlines in Customer Experience Survey

Southwest Airlines came out on top as the best airline in the second annual Temkin Experience Ratings of customer experience. Southwest earned the top spot in the industry and received the only "good" rating. AirTran Airways was ranked second in the industry and earned a rating of "okay," along with JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines. The remaining five airlines earned poor ratings, with US Airways and American Airlines ranked at the bottom.

The survey included 206 large companies across 18 industries. The research, which is based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers in January 2012, includes nine airlines.

The overall airline industry, on average, earned the 12th spot out of 18 industries. The industry made a modest improvement in its overall customer experience ratings between 2011 and 2012. Led by AirTran Airways, Southwest Airlines and United Airways, five of the eight airlines that were included in both studies showed some improvement. Continental Airlines and American Airlines had the largest declines since last year.

Southwest Airlines received the highest Functional ratings, 8 percentage points higher than second-place AirTran Airways. US Airways and American Airlines received the lowest ratings in this area. Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways received the highest Accessible and Emotional ratings, while US Airways and American Airlines received the lowest scores in both of those areas.