How to tell if a travel company respects its customers

• How do customers rate them? Check the American Customer Satisfaction Index for a list of top-rated companies . Last year’s top performing airlines were Southwest , Alaska and JetBlue.

• How do employees rate the company? Happy employees offer respectful service. A Glassdoor ranking of employees found that Southwest was the top travel company, followed by Delta Air Lines and Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants.

• How does the government rate them? The Department of Transportation publishes monthly report cards for airlines. The annual Airline Quality Rating summarizes the data into a ranking. Last year’s winners: Alaska, Delta and JetBlue.