To know them is to hate flying them — which is probably why the much-derided (if awfully cheap) Spirit Airlines has been named by a survey on thepointsguy.com as the country’s worst airline.
Here’s the thing about Spirit: Do everything by the[ir] book, and you’ll probably get a great deal somewhere you want to fly — like the Caribbean. Go off-book and you will pay through the nose for the luxury of checking a bag, printing a boarding pass (even at a kiosk) or basically anything. (This is an airline that points out that printing that same boarding pass at home is free. Win!) The official survey reasoning blamed Spirit’s “last-place rankings [on] cabin comfort, customer satisfaction, frequent flyer perks and on-time arrivals, plus zero lounges.”
On the opposite side of the spectrum: Alaska was named fliers’ favorite airline, earning high marks for its frequent flyer program, cabin comfort, and customer satisfaction. Its main ding was for its route network — something that will improve markedly as it assumes Virgin America’s routes.
The entire ranking is as follows:
- Alaska Airlines
- United Airlines
- Virgin America
- JetBlue Airways
- American Airlines
- Southwest Airlines
- Delta Air Lines
- Hawaiian Airlines
- Frontier Airlines
- Spirit Airlines
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