Passenger satisfaction is up compared to a year ago, but airlines remain in the bottom third of industries tracked by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). As the largest airlines lower their ticket prices to compete with discount carriers, the industry gains 4.2 percent to 75 on a 100-point scale. The ACSI results are based on thousands of customer interviews conducted over 12 months, ending in March 2017.

“Customer satisfaction has never appeared to be a goal for airlines,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder. “Compared to other industries, the financial return on passenger satisfaction is not much of an incentive. The exception is in the few airports where airlines actually compete with one another—or when they treat passengers spectacularly badly in public.”

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