New survey reveals customer deal-breakers for airlines

SAN FRANCSICO (KGO) -- There's a new survey out called the Airline Pain Index which identifies the pain points and offers way to make the discomfort stop.

The index has been put together by Qualtrics, a high-tech firm specializing in feedback, which finds fliers biggest gripe is lost luggage. Number two is hidden fees.

"It's being upfront with pricing. I think it is a major take home here. Trying to trick or hide fees on passengers is something that is absolutely a deal breaker," said Kyle Groff of Qualtrics.

Number three on the pain index are flight crews.

"We actually found that just friendliness of crew was one of the biggest deal breakers across every demographic that we surveyed," said Groff added. "It was actually the number three reason why passengers would choose to pull the plug on flying on a particular airline and switch."

Just being nice made the whole experience better.

"Oh, my gosh yes. Absolutely," said Louanna Blackton of San Mateo.

Time and again, passengers said even a long flight with tight legroom could be salvaged by a well-intentioned crew.

"I would agree, good service goes a long way," said Sophia Huyh of San Francisco.

Passengers often choose which airlines they fly by the friendliness of the flight attendants. Demetria Smith lists her favorite airlines for friendliness.

"Jet Blue and Southwest have the best staff. They make it fun. They make you feel comfortable even if there is a delay or we are sitting on the tarmac, or anything like that, so I would definitely say it smoothes it over a little bit," said Demetria Smith of Jacksonville, Fla.

So, simply being nice gets the airlines off the hook for poor service.