T+L magazine: Virgin America, Singapore are top airlines for 2015
Virgin America has been named the USA's top airline according to the 2015 "World's Best Awards" released Tuesday (July 7) by Travel + Leisure magazine. It's the eight consecutive year T+L has tabbed the San Francisco-based carrier as the top in the nation.
The T+L awards are one of several that attempt to rank airlines. Just last month, the World Airline Awards published by Skytrax tabbed Qatar Airways as the world's top carrier. And in May, JetBlue and Alaska Airlines continued their stranglehold atop the annual J.D. Power customer service satisfaction survey that looks at North American carriers.
As for the T+L ratings, JetBlue came in behind Virgin America to rank as the nation's No. 2 carrier. Hawaiian, Southwest and Alaska Airlines rounded out the top five. Those rankings were identical to the results from T+L's 2014 "World Best Awards."
Internationally, Singapore Airlines and Emirates were tabbed as the best in the world, holding down the same No. 1 and No. 2 positions they won in T+L's ratings in both 2014 and 2013. Rounding out the top five were Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific and Air New Zealand. Dropping out of the top five from last year were Virgin Atlantic and Asiana. Singapore Airlines has won the top spot in the T+L rankings every year since they were introduced in 1996.
On the ground, Oregon's Portland International Airport repeat as the best in the United States. Tampa, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Dallas Love Field and Austin rounded out the domestic top 5. Dropping out of the top five from last year were Charlotte and Orlando.
Internationally, Singapore's Changi Airport repeated as No. 1. Hong Kong, Amsterdam, Zurich, and Munich rounded out the top five. Dropping out of the top five from last year were Dubai and Seoul/Incheon.
T+L offers an in-depth explanation of its ratings methodology on its website. But, in short, the magazine says the ratings are "indexed averages of responses" compiled via surveys of its readers. The magazine adds "the survey website, tlworldsbest.com, was maintained, monitored, and kept secure by Wylei, which collected and tabulated the responses and kept them confidential."
The T+L "best of" list rated U.S. airlines primarily for cabin comfort, in-flight service, customer service and value. The survey also incorporated food, for timeliness/reliability and loyalty programs in its ratings.
As for airports, the T+L survey used the following criteria: location/access, check-in/security, restaurants/food, shopping, design, business and families.