As fares and fees rise, passengers want service

Airlines struggle with upgrading service as passengers pay more.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — On a recent rainy day at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, a suitcase bound for Colorado Springs, Colo., lay on the ground outside a terminal under a maze of American Airlines conveyor belts that ferry bags to and from nearby planes.

A field representative for the airline who was showing a reporter the long, circuitous route checked bags take put the suitcase on a belt where it was supposed to be. He said it likely fell off a belt or a baggage handler’s vehicle. He didn’t know how long it had been off its path.

The airlines have been imposing new fees, raising fares, reducing flights and, in some cases, cutting out free snacks in coach. But several big and small airlines alike have struggled relative to the industry in terms of baggage handling, on-time performance and other customer service metrics.

An annual University of Michigan survey released in May found customers giving airlines the worst grades since 2001.

With the slow travel season now upon them, airlines face the dual challenges of increasing revenue to cover heavy fuel costs while also improving their product to give air travelers a return on their added investment.

“We realize that in order for us to regain that brand recognition and the customer loyalty that we used to own in the ’80s and ’90s, we ought to do something very dramatic and different,” said Mark Mitchell, American’s managing director of customer experience.

Delta Air Lines Inc.’s regional subsidiary Comair had the worst on-time performance in July among airlines surveyed by the Department of Transportation. From January through July, American Airlines’ on-time arrival rate was the lowest among U.S. carriers, while UAL Corp.’s United Airlines’ was second-lowest.

Comair, based in the Cincinnati suburb of Erlanger, Ky., had the highest mishandled baggage rate in July, while the highest number of consumer complaints received by the DOT that month were about Delta. Comair’s on-time performance from January through July ranked 17th out of 19 airlines, while Delta’s ranked eighth.

The fourth-highest number of consumer complaints received by the DOT in July involved Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways, which said in a Sept. 3 memo to employees that they would not be receiving a $50 bonus for the month because the airline’s on-time performance did not place in the top three among the 10 largest U.S. carriers.

Executives blame weather, congestion in the Northeast and air traffic control issues for some of the problems, but they also acknowledge company specific problems.