Consumer Reports' readers weigh in on best, worst airlines

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Planning your dream getaway for the summer? If you want everything to go smoothly, Consumer Reports and 7 On Your Side's Michael Finney has details on which airlines are the best and worst.

We all have our pet peeves about flying. "Bad customer service is my pet-peeve," said one airport passenger. Another said,"The chair is terrible."

"There's not enough overhead baggage," said another passenger. "It's just crazy, you know."

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Consumer Reports surveyed over 53,000 of its members, asking them to rate their most recent economy domestic flight experiences. "So, one of the things that really stood out to me was, just how satisfied people actually are with the service that they receive by the airlines," said Octavio Blanco, Multimedia Content Creator at Consumer Reports.

But there were notable exceptions. Discount carriers Spirit and Frontier received low marks across the board, including flight status updates, Wi-Fi connectivity and food selection.

Rising to the top? Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue, Virgin America, and Hawaiian led the way with economy flights. "Southwest really stood out, especially for their price transparency," Blanco revealed. "They were the only one that received such high marks, in terms of, just how well they explain all the fees that get added onto passengers tickets when their booking."

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All 11 of the airlines in the survey, though, received low marks for seat comfort, legroom and food selection.

For many flyers, prior history and experience with an airline, was not a major factor when picking their flight. So, why do consumers choose one airline over another? "I choose it for the price. And choose it to make sure we don't have no stopovers," one passenger said.

Another passenger said, "depending on the rates and so-forth, is how I would determine what airline I would use."

"Look for price, convenience, airline that's going to where we want to go," shared another airport passenger.

When looking for a flight, Consumer Reports advises to pay close attention to those ancillary fees and not just the base fares.

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