The hardships endured by airline passengers have come at a time when consumer spending on air travel has risen on the currents of a buoyant economy. Travelers took 614 million trips last year. But unlike during past booms, airlines have not matched increased demand by adding proportionately to their number of aircraft, in-flight and ground personnel, or frequency of flights. Not surprisingly, the airlines dispute charges that they've allowed service to deteriorate in the pursuit of profits. TWA spokesman Jim Brown says planes are more crowded because airlines can't instantly respond to the rising demand for air travel.
Bad weather causes delays, and equipment breaks down.
Matthew Triaca, a spokesman for United, says that passengers may sometimes blame airlines for problems beyond their control. We also combed through reams of DOT data to evaluate how the airlines stacked up against each other for on-time performance, customer complaints, and baggage handling. Finally, we hired GRA, an airline-consulting firm based near Philadelphia, to analyze the most recent data gathered quarterly by the DOT on fares consumers paid to fly the nation's most heavily traveled routes. No single indicator fully captures the elusive combination of high-quality service and value for your travel dollar that makes for a satisfying flying experience. That's why we compared the insights gleaned from our 1998 survey respondents with earlier reader-survey results and with the price and performance data the DOT collects to produce the airline Ratings .