Alaska, Southwest take 'Top Airline' honors

Two airlines that haven't (yet, anyway) tossed or dragged passengers from their seats have gotten top honors for U.S. airlines in a study by J.D. Power, the  company that...well...rates things.

The rankings aren't much of a surprise; Alaska is an 11-year-in-a-row winner among 'traditional' airlines, and Southwest has barely trailed previous winner JetBlue in previous years. In fact, both Southwest and JetBlue improved their point rankings; Southwest improved them more.

The survey measures customer satisfaction with airline service; a thousand points are, in theory, possible. Southwest's 807 not only led the Low-Cost Carrier list, but it and  JetBlue (803) outscored Alaska's 765. Two significant omissions from the survey group: Spirit and Allegiant, which are frequently cited as low-satisfaction.

Here's the full list:

J.D. Power 2017 North America Airline Satisfaction Study

Traditional carriers (Segment average 740 points)

1. Alaska Airlines (765 points)
2. Delta Air Lines (758 points)
3. American Airlines (736 points)
4. United Airlines (716 points)
5. Air Canada (709 points)

Low-cost carriers (Segment average 784 points)

1. Southwest Airlines (807 points)
2. JetBlue (803 points)
3. WestJet (736 points)
4. Frontier Airlines (663 points)