Which Airline is Rated "Worst"?

Chances are, if you're a frequent business traveler, you're also a frequently annoyed at mismanaged baggage, cancelled flights, and delays. To see which airline takes the trophy for the most complaints, I've culled the U.S. Department of Transportation's Air Travel Consumer Report. The worst performing airline, based on number of complaints, is U.S. Airways, which received a total of 5 complaints per 100,000 fliers [PDF].

The most frequently reported complaint in the data is, not surprisingly, cancelled or delayed flights, followed by baggage mismanagement (U.S. Airways had 10 reported baggage issues per 1,000 customers), and mistakes made in reservations & ticketing.

Forbes selected Atlantic Southeast Airlines as their overall "worst," using a different methodology. U.S. Airways, however, has five times as many boarding passengers, and more complaints per 100,000 customers.

Now what's the worst possible combination of airline with airport? According to our earlier analysis of luggage theft, a U.S. Airways flight from LAX will likely put you in a pickle.

U.S. Airways Landing image by alex-s [cc, 2.0]