Fliers more satisfied with airlines, new survey says

— -- Customer satisfaction with airlines has improved as passengers become savvier about avoiding some extra fees, the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index finds.

A survey of roughly 5,000 passengers in the first three months of 2012 found satisfaction with the airlines was up 3.1% from a year before on the ACSI's 100-point scale.

That's in contrast to the findings of a larger survey out last week from the marketing research firm J.D. Power and Associates that saw satisfaction with North American airlines take a slide, dropping two points on its scale.

Steve Lott, spokesman for Airlines for America, the trade group for the major U.S. airlines, says airlines have demonstrated improved performance recently in Transportation Department monthly measurements.

"Thanks to operational improvements and fewer weather disruptions, our members are again delivering strong on-time performance and already this year set two all-time records for baggage handling," Lott says.

But satisfaction with airlines still ranks below several other industries such as hotels and full-service restaurants, the ACSI survey says. And the latest uptick in satisfaction likely has more to do with passengers finding ways to cope than genuinely enjoying their travel experiences, says ACSI managing director David VanAmburg.

"It seems to have gone up a bit because passengers continue to be increasingly savvy about how they fly," he says. "Customers are finding ways to avoid fees whenever possible."

Fewer people are checking bags, and those who didn't pay the extra fees felt better about the airlines than those who did, the survey finds.

The J.D. Power survey mirrored those results, with passengers who paid to check a bag having an average satisfaction score lower than their fellow fliers.

Low-cost carriers led the pack in both surveys. JetBlue knocked Southwest out of the No. 1 spot for the first time in the ACSI survey's 18-year history. In the J.D. Power survey, JetBlue was on top for the seventh year in a row, followed by Southwest.

VanAmburg says JetBlue's dominance could be short-lived, with Southwest's dip in customer satisfaction over the last year likely a result of growing pains caused by its recent merger with AirTran. "We see this so often with mergers and acquisitions," he says.

Overall, VanAmburg says, low-fare carriers enjoy higher customer satisfaction than their legacy peers — United, Delta, American and US Airways— primarily because of their pricing.

Business fliers are also more satisfied than they were a year ago, but less so than their vacationing counterparts.

Meanwhile, customers showed greater satisfaction with hotels in the survey, with higher-end hotels that are pricier but offer more comforts continuing to be ranked high.

The airline industry could learn from the hotel sector's example, VanAmburg says. Customers will "pay more for a hotel room if they perceive they're getting something for that, an upscale experience, more amenities," he says. On the other hand, he says, the airline credo seems to be "we'll charge you less and give you less."