Airlines With Most and Least Customer Complaints and Frontier's Awful Finish

In recent years, Frontier, which likes to portray itself as Denver's hometown airline, has regularly gotten hammered in customer satisfaction reports. Take its brutal finish in the 2014 Airline Quality Rating study. Did the carrier do better in the Air Travel Consumer Report, issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation. Below,...

By Michael Roberts

May 13, 2015

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In recent years, Frontier, which likes to portray itself as Denver's hometown airline, has regularly gotten hammered in customer satisfaction reports.

Take its brutal finish in the 2014 Airline Quality Rating study.

Did the carrier do better in the Air Travel Consumer Report, issued by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Below, see the photo-illustrated list pertaining to customer complaints, with the thirteen U.S. airlines in question ranked from best to worst. Included is DOT data from both 2014 to 2015. And while Frontier's performance last year wasn't exactly outstanding, its tumble this time around qualifies as absolutely spectacular.

Count them down here, and then check out the complete Air Travel Consumer Report, included in its entirety.

Number 1: Southwest Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 49
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 10,954,570
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.45
Complaints, March 2015: 58
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 12,536,474
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 0.46

Number 2: Alaska Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 5
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 1,7542,553
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.29
Complaints, March 2015: 11
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 1,956,334
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 0.56

Number 3: SkyWest Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 14
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 2,360,217
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.59
Complaints, March 2015: 14
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 2,488,999
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 0.56

Number 4: ExpressJet Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 32
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 2,834,997
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.45
Complaints, March 2015: 1.13
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 2,399,473
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 0.63

Number 5: Delta Air Lines
Complaints, March 2014: 47
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 11,212,952
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.42
Complaints, March 2015: 81
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 11,902,191
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 0.68

Number 6: Virgin America
Complaints, March 2014: 10
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 543,705
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 1.84
Complaints, March 2015: 6
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 570,383
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 1.05

Number 7: JetBlue Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 24
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 2,753,630
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.87
Complaints, March 2015: 36
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 2,997,997
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 1.20

Number 8: Hawaiian Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 7
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 825,599
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 0.85
Complaints, March 2015: 13
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 869,450
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 1.50

Number 9: Envoy Air
Complaints, March 2014: 18
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 1,442,368
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 1.25
Complaints, March 2015: 22
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 1,126,047
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 1.95

Number 10: United Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 224
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 7,926,943
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 2.83
Complaints, March 2015: 190
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 8,048,123
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 2.36

Number 11: American Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 224
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 12,706,484
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 1.76
Complaints, March 2015: 466
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 12,526,257
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 3.72

Number 12: Spirit Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: N/A
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: N/A
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: N/A
Complaints, March 2015: 149
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 1,451,475
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 10.27

Number 13: Frontier Airlines
Complaints, March 2014: 22
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2014: 871,570
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2014: 2.52
Complaints, March 2015: 162
Systemwide Enplanements, March 2015: 1,022,979
Complaints per 100,000 Enplanements, March 2015: 15.84

Air Travel Consumer Report.pdf

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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