Ranking the Airlines

From on-time flights to lost bags, new airline quality survey shows who's hot and who's not

A delayed flight or lost bag can really put a damper on travel. To keep airlines accountable and passengers informed, the Airline Quality Index outlines the best and worst flying experiences. For the second year in a row, Virgin America earned the index's No. 1 ranking.

Using weighted data for on-time flights, overbooked passengers, lost bags and complaints, the Airline Quality Index has been compiled annually since 1991. This year, however, marked an important milestone.

"The Airline Quality Rating score for 2013 was the best industry score for all of the 23-year history," the researchers said.

"Southwest shows poorer performance for 2013 and was the only airline to show decline in all four areas rated," the researchers said.

While the overall ratings improved, two key areas declined for the airline industry as a whole: on-time arrival percentage and lost bags. On the plus side, overbooked flights and customer complaints decreased from 2012 to 2013.

Virgin America's top ranking is credited to on-time flights (82 percent) and a rate of less than one lost bag per 1,000 passengers. The industry average for lost bags is more than three times higher than Virgin America's figure. Virgin's customer complaint rate, however, is higher than most of its competitors.

Virgin hopes to secure two new gates at Dallas Love Field in October, when American Airlines merges with US Airways. The timing coincides with the expiration of the Wright Amendment, which restricted flights from Love Field since 1979.

Jet Blue earned second place on the index, buoyed by the lowest customer complaint and overbooked flight rates of all airlines. On-time flights are the weak link at Jet Blue, where only 74 percent of planes take off as scheduled.

Dallas-based Southwest Airlines came in at No. 8, just behind US Airways and a slot ahead of neighboring American Airlines. Southwest has been on the decline since 2007, when it earned a No. 3 ranking on the index. Since then, it has dropped from the fifth, sixth and seventh slots.

Southwest's on-time flights decreased from 83 percent in 2012 to 77 percent in 2013; its lost bags, customer complaints and overbooked flights all increased from last year.

"Overall, Southwest shows poorer performance for 2013 and was the only airline to show decline in all four areas rated," the researchers said.

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Shopping for a cause

Dallas nonprofit Bonton Farms spreads its wings with 2 DFW Airport stores

DFW Airport

Bonton Farms stand at DFW Airport

South Dallas nonprofit Bonton Farms is going international without straying too far from home. The organization is debuting two storefronts at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport: one that just opened and another coming this fall.

The larger Bonton Farms marketplace, a 2,895-square-foot space in Terminal A, quietly opened in mid-August.

A second, smaller 551-square-foot newsstand near the A-Pier will open in October, when the airport's A-Pier expansion is scheduled to open, a spokesperson says. (Exact date is still TBA.)

The shops are called, simply, "Bonton Farms" and are operated by Marshall Retail Group, a subsidiary of WHSmith North America, which is partnering with Bonton Farms on the airport concept.

According to a release, both stores will sell Bonton Farms products such as locally made honey, handmade jam, and goat-milk soap, along with apparel, merchandise, and products made by "Bontonpreneurs," the local entrepreneurs supported through the nonprofit's business-development programs.

Bonton Farms' goods are now sold at DFW Airport Terminal A. Photo courtesy of Bonton Farms

The stores will also offer fresh grab-and-go food, including sandwiches, wraps, salads and sweet treats, as well as travel essentials and souvenirs and gifts.

The airport project was first announced in 2024 as a partnership between Bonton Farms, WHSmith, and DFW Airport. The plan called for Bonton Farms products to be sold alongside goods from other North Texas businesses, including Fort Worth's Sons Coffee, Lettuce Cook, and Pearl Honey Spreads.

Bonton Farms began in the Bonton neighborhood with a small beekeeping operation and has grown into a nonprofit farm, market and community hub. Its operations now include two farm sites, a coffeehouse, farmers market, preservatory and farm-to-table Market/Café, along with programs focused on workforce development, education, health and wellness, economic opportunity and access to fresh food.

"This opening represents an exciting milestone for Bonton Farms and the community we serve," says Mark Jones, President & CEO of Bonton Farms, in the release. "For the first time, our products and our story will reach travelers from around the world. Through this partnership with WHSmith North America, we're creating new opportunities to share the mission of Bonton Farms while generating additional support for programs that help our neighbors thrive."

The airport shops are designed to introduce Bonton Farms to travelers who may not otherwise encounter the organization or its products.

"This store isn't just retail space, it's a front door to our mission," says Kendra Charisse Smith, Director of Operations at Bonton Farms, who oversaw execution of the partnership. "From sourcing and packaging our products to meet the demands of a whole new scale of distribution, every step was about making sure Bonton Farms shows up authentically in one of the busiest airports in the world. This launch reflects the same care and intentionality we put into everything we do in South Dallas.”

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