Midwest Airlines, Virgin America win highest scores among US-based airlines in Zagat Survey

Midwest Airlines and Virgin America, comparatively small airlines based in the United States, have won the highest scores among all the US-based carriers in the annual poll conducted by Zagat Survey.

In the 2009 survey, Zagat had asked air passengers to rate how well 16 United States-based airlines, 73 international airlines as well as 30 domestic airports fared regarding service, comfort, and food.

The findings of the survey is the result of the input provided by 5,895 frequent-fliers and travel professionals who collectively took 97,600 flights in 2998. These flyers averaged 17 flights a year and booked most of them on the websites of airlines. Around 60% of these flights were for business purposes.

Zagat Survey, founded by Tim Zagat and Nina Zagat in 1979, rates, besides airlines, hotels, restaurants, nightlife, shopping, music, theatre, movies, golf, and zoos.

The 2009 Zagat Airline Survey rated Midwest Airlines, based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the United States, as the number one in overall quality for mid-sized, economy-class service in the US.

It is the 8^th time in a row that Midwest Airlines has been ranked the number one, having won the top spot in the US airline survey conducted by Zagat, since the survey started in 1990.

Midwest Airlines Midwest scored 21 on the 30-point Zagat scale, tying with Virgin America.

Hawaiian Airlines followed with 16 points, and was named one of the best mid-sized domestic airlines in premium-class seating.

In a statement, Jim Reichart, Midwest Airlines’ director of advertising and brand, said that the carrier’s “continued high marks” bear witness to its employees’ efforts in providing “personal, attentive service to every passenger.”

Reichart said Midwest Airlines has been named the best airline over 50 times since 1990.

Midwest Airlines has already announced that it will start, in 2010, non-stop service from its home base in Milwaukee to San Francisco, Raleigh/Durham International Airport in North Carolina, and St Louis. In addition, it will launch seasonal flights between Milwaukee and Kansas City, Fort Lauderdale, and Fort Myers; as well as from Omaha (Nebraska) to Tampa and to Orlando (Florida).

At present, Midwest Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Republic Airways, operates over 200 daily flights to 36 cities.

In a press release, Virgin America, the low-cost airline based in California, the United States, thanked its over 5,000 frequent-fliers for having took part in the 2009 Zagat Global Airline Survey.

In the survey, Virgin America – which started operations on August 8, 2007 – ranked the best domestic mid-size airline in both the premium-class and the economy-class categories.

Virgin America was not only rated the best overall airline in its category but also won the survey’s leading score of 24 points for its First Class service, and 21 points for it s Main Cabin service – thus staying ahead of all United States-based airlines in all  categories based on size.

Major airlines based in the United States such as Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, American Airlines, and US Airways received overall ratings (the combined average of service, comfort and food) of between 9 points and 11 points on the 30-point Zagat scale for their domestic economy-class service.