Bowen said the survey showed some erosion over 1995 as Southwest widened its lead. Overall, he said, the survey has shown marked improvements since it was started in 1990 because airlines generally are doing better financially than they were six years ago and work to improve their ratings. However, he and Headley said that personnel cuts aimed at bringing costs down from an industry-wide average of more than 9 cents per passenger mile closer to Southwest's 7.5 cents also are showing up in longer lines and other passenger inconveniences among major domestic carriers. The survey does not rate domestic commuter and discount airlines or international flights because of a lack of reliable data, the researchers said. The rating system is based on a complex formula that yields a numerical quality score for the major domestic airlines that can be a positive or negative number.
Parents share strategies that help make trips with teens enjoyable.
Here's a list of suggestions gleaned from several sources. Not if you're vacationing with kids. With dozens of new hotels, restaurants swathed in their best linen and museums, there isn't a better place to visit on the Mediterranean. If you want to spend part of your vacation a step back in time, try Charleston, S.C., with its Southern gentility, antebellum homes and a very walkable historic district and fort. When you tire of the bright lights and big city, there's a place, just two hours by car from Las Vegas, where eons light the way and silence is the only music.