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Top airlines for your next trip

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Are you planning your dream getaway for the summer? Of course, you want everything to go perfectly. Including your flight. Consumer Reports surveyed over 53,000 of its members, asking them to rate their most recent economy domestic flight experiences.

One of the things that really stood out was just how satisfied people actually are with the service that they receive by the airlines. But there were notable exceptions. Discount carriers Spirit and Frontier received low marks across the board, including flight status updates, WiFi connectivity and food selection.

Rising to the top are Southwest, Alaska, JetBlue, Virgin America, and Hawaiian led the way with economy flights. Southwest really stood out, especially for their price transparency. 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.

All eleven 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? Some factors are price, convenience, layovers and destination. And when you`re looking for a flight, Consumer Reports advises to pay close attention to those ancillary fees, and not just look at the base fares.