JetBlue still popular U.S. airline, despite snafu

NEW YORK (Reuters) - JetBlue Airways Corp. is still one of the United States' favorite airlines, despite an embarrassing cancellation fiasco in February that cost the carrier's chief executive his job, according to a new national survey.

The survey, by Consumer Reports National Research Center, ranked JetBlue as No. 1 in customer satisfaction with a score of 87 out of a possible 100, beating out rivals overall in terms of check-in ease, seating comfort, on-time performance and in-flight service.

The poll, in which 23,000 people rated their experiences on 31,455 U.S. domestic flights, was conducted in early February, just before a Valentine's Day ice storm in New York led JetBlue to cancel almost 1,200 flights over the following days and left passengers stranded on planes for hours.

Consumer Reports said a smaller follow-up survey conducted in April found that JetBlue's Valentine's Day problems had little effect on the airline's overall levels of satisfaction, with the carrier remaining among the top-rated airlines in the second survey.

The February fiasco sent JetBlue scrambling to rescue its reputation and eventually led chief executive and founder David Neeleman to step aside last month to focus on the airline's strategy rather than day-to-day operations.

Midwest Air Group Inc. followed closely behind JetBlue with a score of 86 out of 100. Southwest Airlines Co. came in third with a score of 80.

Larger airlines did not fare as well in the rankings. Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines Inc. and AMR Corp.'s American Airlines were ranked 9, 11 and 12 respectively.

Northwest Airlines Corp. was ranked 14 with a score of 66, while UAL Corp.'s United Airlines was ranked 16 with a score of 64. US Airways Group Inc. came in last place ranked at 18 with a score of 62.