Survey shows travelers are happier with airlines, but Canadian companies could do better

TORONTO (NEWS 1130) — A day after a glitch caused widespread delays for Air Canada, a new survey from JD Power shows we’re happier than every with airlines.

Even so, Canadian companies still rank lower than the American competition.

Air Canada ranked fourth overall for big airlines, a high-ranking but lower than where it ranked last year, and WestJet ranked second for low-cost carriers, although it’s rank is below average overall.

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Michael Taylor with JD Power says a combination of newer planes, ticket value and better technology for booking and check-in have driven overall satisfaction with airlines to its highest point in history.

“Canadians are pickier as a culture — we see that in our surveys — and they do have slightly more Canadians answering questions about WestJet and Air Canada,” he says. “Canadians are a little harder graders.”

He says American companies present some stiff competition to Canadian airlines.

“Southwest has a great advantage in communicating value for the ticket, and JetBlue does a great job entertaining you in-flight,” he says. “Air Canada had a great year last year, they’ve just slowed down a bit.”

In general, the higher ratings come from improvements to rankings at big airlines, while rankings at low-cost airlines declined.

Newer planes, better ticket value have driven up satisfaction with airlines to its highest point in history. According to the survey, fresh food, seat-back games and seat-back live television have the greatest positive effect on customer satisfaction.

Better booking and check-in systems helped boost ratings, but in-flight entertainment was the biggest complaint.