Airlines ranked for customer service; Continental dominates

Kevin Stirtz — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:52:12 +0000

J.D. Power and Associates has released their 2009 North America Airline Satisfaction Study. Here’s how the major US airlines rank:

Airline	JDP Score

Continental Airlines	669
Delta Air Lines	641
American Airlines	618
Northwest Airlines	614
United Airlines	604
US Airways	559

These rankings are very similar to 2008. NWA rose slightly in the rankings and US Airways dropped to last. Every airline had a lower score in 2009 than in 2008. And if you look back to 2008 and 2007, the rankings don’t change much. Continental Airlines is consistently on top, followed by Delta and American. NWA, United and US Airways trade places somewhat but always stay near the bottom.

And this parallels my experience over the last three years.

So even though the scores have been dropping, this tells me there is consistency in how the airlines are delivering customer service. Looking forward you might expect this pattern to continue. But it won’t. Things will actually get better over the next few years.

Delta CEO Richard Anderson has made a public commitment to delivering better customer service. He wants to win. And he’s acquired NWA so he has a much bigger airline now. A big improvement in customer service at Delta could be a game changer for the airline industry. And it will give Continental some competition in the customer service space. It could raise the bar for all big US airlines. Wouldn’t that be nice!

What are your thoughts? Is airline customer service improving or getting worse? And who will win the airline customer service wars?Other articles you might like:

NWA – Delta Improves Customer Experience. Will it last?

Kevin Stirtz — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 15:32:18 +0000

It appears the predictions that a down economy would spur companies to higher levels of customer service are coming true. Recently on a trip to Philadelphia my wife and I were delayed on a NWA flight. Our plane left the gate about an hour late and then we sat on the tarmac for another 45 minutes or so. I didn’t give it a second of thought except to say I was glad there were no thunderstorms between Philly and Minneapolis. They can do more to wreck a summer traveler’s schedule than just about anything.

A week or so later we each received a nice letter from a customer service executive at NWA. The letters apologized for the delay and informed us we had received an extra 1000 frequent flier miles as a way to compensate us for being inconvenienced.

The first thing I did was hit myself squarely in the stomach. I wanted to make sure I was awake and not dreaming. I was both pleased and astonished. This was uncharted territory for me: A major airline going out of their way to apologize to a customer and offer compensation. And they did it without us saying a thing.

I was thrilled to see this major change in how NWA treats their customers. Maybe it’s the Delta influence. But I’ve been delayed on Delta before and never received such a letter. So I choose to believe companies are changing how they do things. I think they are actually focusing on delivering a better experience to their customers as a way to increase customer loyalty.

Is this a trend? Are other major companies stepping up their efforts to deliver a better experience to their customers? Or is this a fluke? Will it eventually fall by the wayside like so many other tactics tried by big companies?

Have you had similar experiences? I’d like to hear your thoughts.Other articles you might like:

AmazingServiceGuy.com » Delta

Airlines ranked for customer service; Continental dominates

NWA – Delta Improves Customer Experience. Will it last?