Southwest Water at the top of the service, others lag on cost-Reuters

Tuesday, June 21, 2011 2: 44 pm EDT

* Business travel discontent red flags for the industry

* Largest airlines again better with consumers

BOSTON, June 21 (Reuters)-no frillsSouthwest Airlines Co. (LUV.N) again topped its rival in a paying customer services whilepremium business travelers is withU. S least satisfied. bearers of the whole, a new survey showed on Tuesday.

Airlines maintained their low overall standing among industry included in index avariety CustomerSatisfaction America, arranged by Ross University ofMichigan School of Business.

"There is discontent bubbling to airlines for sometime but the situation has deteriorated slightly from last year," said Managing Director David VanAmburg ACSI.

Passenger satisfaction with airlines down 1.5 percentto Score of 65 in ACSI's 100 point scale. Score havegenerally hovering mid-low 60s in the last decade.

Travelers cited poor service, forbaggage prices and higher costs and other services as the main cause of theirdiscontent.

Airlines have raised their rates and fees to fight the soaring fuelcosts and preserve fragile financial recovery.

Southwest continued to outperform competitors with consumers, according to the survey of 2,000 consumers.

Low-cost airlines posted a score of 81 in the ACSI has been partbecause not taking anything away from customers and thenoffered return for a fee, said VanAmburg.

Southwest is promoting a policy of not charging forbags.

Among the main competitors of the Southwest, Continental scored 64, 63 UnitedUnited (SELL.N)and US Airways (LCC.N) bound to 61andDelta Air Lines (DAL.N) fell to 56 ACSI scale.American Airlines (AMR.N) was unchanged at 63.

All other operators, which include low-cost small business oriented andservice, posted a 76, percentimprovement 1.3.

Red flags for airlines in the latest survey of business travelers is thedissatisfaction, the courtsrelentlessly industry and dependent to the highest rate.

"We see greater dissatisfaction among the business travelerssimply because they put themselves out there more for belet down by airline or experience," said VanAmburg.

Recent mergers, known to adversely affect the onsatisfaction and aimed at attracting more businesstravel, pose added pressure.

Delta fell down all airlines forcustomer satisfaction one year after completing its acquisitionof Northwest, ACSI report.

The fate of America, which absorbed Continental last year, and the Southwest, AirTran, earned remain uncertain, itsaid.

(Report by Lauren Keiper; Editing by John Crawley)