Frequent flyers' thumbs down to US carriers

The annual survey of frequent fliers by Seatguru.com, the popular online guide to airline seating, doesn't have a lot of highlights for US-based airlines.

US carriers serve the worst food - if they serve food at all, that is - and have the least comfortable seats, the survey of 1,600 fliers found.

Meals on American Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways were considered the worst.

The best? Singapore Airlines, followed by British Airways, Continental and Air France. Many US carriers have been eliminating meal service altogether on domestic flights.

JetBlue Airways did come out on top for the most comfortable economy-class seats, according to the survey, while Singapore Airlines led the field for business-class. The least comfortable: American, United and US Air.

The survey also asked which airline had the rudest flight attendants, and again United, American and US Airways topped the list. Singapore and Southwest were voted as having the most polite attendants.

"Domestic airlines have been making strides in recent years to better compete with international airlines, but it is clear that they still have a ways to go in the eyes of fliers," said Matthew Daimler, founder of Seatguru.com.

Most of those surveyed flew at least eight times last year. Travel experts contend there has never been a better time to fly, and they may well be right. Latest air travel data shows that the recession-induced travel slump is not only lowering fares but causing fewer flight delays.

With fewer planes in the air and even fewer passengers flying, US carriers posted some of the best on-time performance numbers in 15 years. The industry's performance for the first three months of 2009 was the third-best since the federal Bureau of Transportation began keeping track.

Hawaiian Airlines had the best on-time performance with 91 per cent of its flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule. Comair, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, had the worst at 68 per cent.

Among the nation's largest carriers, Southwest was on-time most often, and Continental Airlines had one of the worst records.