Airlines are bracing for troubled skies as rising fuel prices and a stormy economy impact their earnings. Layoffs, shut downs and industry consolidation have battered employee morale – and that shows up in declining customer satisfaction.

While high prices and additional charges for amenities don’t make for happy fliers, the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 North America Airline Satisfaction Study^SM finds that the most important reason behind a decline in overall airline customer satisfaction is deteriorating airline staff customer service.

Overall customer satisfaction is at its lowest point in three years. When passengers experience a lack of knowledge, courtesy and helpfulness from reservations and gate agents, check-in staff and flight crew, it can quickly sour them on their airline travel experience.

In spite of this, not all planes are filled with grumbling flight staff and disgruntled passengers.

For a fourth consecutive year, JetBlue ranks highest overall of all airlines. It also ranks highest in the low-cost carrier segment for the third consecutive time. JetBlue performs particularly well in six of seven customer satisfaction measures: aircraft; boarding/deplaning/baggage; check-in; cost and fees; flight crew; and in-flight services.

Among traditional major airlines, Alaska Airlines and Continental Airlines tie for highest ranking, Continental repeating for the third consecutive year.

Alaska Airlines performs particularly well in five of seven measures: aircraft; boarding/deplaning/baggage; check-in; flight crew and reservation, while Continental performs well in the cost and fees measure.

The study also finds the following key patterns:

• Price declined as the most frequently reported reason for choosing a carrier in 2008, down to 39 percent of survey respondants


• More passengers are making their flight reservations online, increasing from 87 percent in 2007 to 92 percent in 2008


• Most reservations are made on airline Web sites. For traditional network carriers, airline sites accounted for 66 percent of all reservations in this year’s study, up 15% in 2007. For low-cost carriers, the study found 85 percent of reservations were made on the airline Web site, up from 78% in 2007


• While complimentary meals are the most-desired amenity for Pre-Boomer, Baby Boomer and Generation X air travelers, in-flight movies are most desired by Generation Y passengers.


• The percentage of travelers who say they chose a particular carrier because of its rewards program has increased to 22 percent in 2008 from 14 percent in 2007.

The 2008 North America Airline Satisfaction Study measures customer satisfaction of both business and leisure travelers with major North American carriers. The study is based on responses from 19,701 passengers who flew on a major North American airline between April 2007 and March 2008.

For more information, view our ratings or read our press release.