Five meanest U.S. airlines

U.S. airlines haven’t exactly been racking up points for customer service. Flight delays, mishandled baggage, oversold flights and rude employees are common problems for air travelers today.

U.S. News and World Report on Thursday released its list of the top five meanest airlines. The rankings are based on the Air Quality Rating Report and a number of other sources, including the American Customer Satisfaction Index and the Air Travel Consumer Reports by the U.S. Department of Transportation. U.S News also included baggage fee data in its analysis.

The 2010 Airline Quality Rating Report, conducted by Wichita State University, ranked major carriers who could stand to improve the most across more than a dozen passenger complaint categories. The report, released earlier this year, is based on surveys of airline industry experts and airline performance data, which carriers report to the Department of Transportation.