<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620062290611.jpg" alt="Image courtesy of Pixabay" />
 <figcaption>Image courtesy of Pixabay</figcaption>
 </figure>By TOM SHINE <a href="https://www.kmuw.org/post/latest-airline-survey-shows-customer-complaints-soared-2020">Kansas News Service</a>The latest Airline Quality Rating survey from Wichita State 
University shows the nation’s major airlines improved in almost all 
areas last year.But as Dean Headley, one of the study’s authors,
 said, that’s not surprising considering how the pandemic affected air 
travel in 2020.“Almost all of the 10 airlines that we looked at 
did very well with being on time and handling bags and denied boardings,
 as you would expect: Nobody was flying,” said Headley, an emeritus 
associate professor of marketing at WSU. “It makes it a lot easier to be
 good when there's not enough volume to really bother you too much.”&nbsp;<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620062345494.png" alt="" />
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 </figure>Passenger volume in 2020 dropped more than 60% as the pandemic threw 
the airline industry into disarray. And that led to a record number of 
customer complaints, from 8,050 in 2019 to 34,663 last year. More than 
80% of the complaints concerned refunds.“The customer complaints
 were the bad thing, and that hit every airline,” Headley said. “So the 
story really was who recovered the quickest from all those complaints 
that were coming in about people with canceled flights.”And that
 was Southwest, which had the fewest customer complaints. That helped it
 finish first in the overall ratings, followed by Allegiant, Delta and 
Alaska airlines. Frontier – which saw its customer complaints per 
100,000 passengers soar from 2.57 in 2019 to 49.3 last year – finished 
last. Hawaiian Airline had the best on-time performance while Allegiant 
mishandled the fewest pieces of luggage.Several airlines 
reported zero denied boardings for the year, no doubt related to lower 
travel volumes. The number of people flying, though, is starting to 
increase. Several national forecasts are predicting a surge in airline 
travel this summer. Officials with Wichita’s Eisenhower National Airport
 said last week that several restaurants and concession areas in the 
terminal had reopened as passenger volumes increased.<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2021/5/1620062374383.png" alt="" />
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 </figure>Headley said airlines are still well below 2019 passenger levels, 
“But if you look at what's happening in the first few months of 2021, 
we're looking at a million to a million and a half passengers a day 
flying somewhere. That's going to get the volumes back pretty quick.”He
 said one question that will be answered this summer is what safety 
measures – like facemasks, proof of vaccine or negative COVID-19 tests –
 airlines will require. Headley said a lot of safety protocols 
instituted after 9/11, such as taking off your shoes when you go through
 security, are still around.“Some of that's going to stick,” 
Headley said of current public health rules. “We just don't know how 
much, and each airline will have to figure out how much they think their
 customer base will tolerate.“They're going to have to balance all that out that maximizes their revenue.”

Latest airline survey shows customer complaints soared in 2020