Zagat Survey Ranks Best and Worst Airlines, Airports in the U.S.

The results of the newest Zagat Airline Survey are in and the winners are young airlines and small airports. For economy and coach service, travelers named Midwest Airlines the best, with Virgin America and Jet Blue rounding out the top three.

In first/business class, it’s Virgin America, Continental and regional carrier Hawaiian Airlines. Judged most consistently on time were Southwest, Continental and Jet Blue.

Among airports, Tampa International headed the list among the 7,500 people who participated in the online survey sponsored by NBC’s The Today Show and released at the start of the Thanksgiving holiday, the industry’s busiest week of the year. Rounding out the Top Five were Denver, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Orlando and Detroit Wayne County.

The biggest loser in the survey was US Airways, which took last place for premium and economy service and for punctuality. The airlines that a generation ago were the premier carriers, United and American, shared the bottom of the rankings with US Airways for worst on-time service.

Tim and Nina Zagat, founders of the survey, said that the survey reflects the fact that the older airlines have aging fleets that are not as comfortable or as fuel efficient as the fleets run by the newer airlines like Jet Blue and Virgin America, a spin-off of the highly rated international carrier Virgin Atlantic.

Among airports, those that fared worst in the survey were aging, big-city terminals. New York fared particularly badly, placing both LaGuardia and J.F.K. among the worst five in the nation, with LaGuardia being rated worst overall and J.F.K. fifth-worst. Rounding out the bottom five were Miami, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.