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Alaska Airlines, Delta top 2017 Airline Quality Rating list

Alaska Airlines
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Airlines are getting better at sticking to their schedules and are losing fewer bags, and customers seem to be complaining less often.

Those are the findings of an annual report on airline quality released Monday by researchers at Wichita State University and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.

The 2017 Airline Quality Rating shows that Alaska Airlines finished number one overall, with Delta coming in at a close second.

The report states nine of the 12 airlines improved in the categores of on-time performance, rate of mishandled bags and rate of customer complaints. Seven of the 12 airlines improved in all four categories, including rate of involuntary denied boardings.

"The best-ever overall industry AQR score is largely due to best-ever performance in the rate of involuntary denied boardings and the rate of mishandled bags," said Dean Headley, associate professor of marketing at the W. Frank Barton School of Business at WSU. "Air travel is great again - that statement can be followed with a period, exclamation point or question mark depending on the individual's perspective."

You can look over the full report at airlinequalityrating.com, where you can also take part in the 2017 Airline Passenger Survey and give your own comments about your experience flying.