Southwest, Delta and JetBlue win top marks for customer satisfaction in J.D. Power survey
Travelers are increasingly unhappy with North American airlines, according to the latest rankings from J.D. Power.
While carriers are reporting record profits, they’re also doing less flying than they were before the pandemic and passengers are feeling the squeeze.
“If yield management were the only metric airlines needed to be successful in the long term, this would be a banner year for the industry because they are operating at peak economic efficiency,” Michael Taylor, travel intelligence lead at J.D. Power, said in a statement. “From the customer perspective, however, that means planes are crowded, tickets are expensive and flight availability is constrained. While these drawbacks have not yet put a dent in leisure travel demand, if this trend continues, travelers will reach a breaking point and some airline brands may be damaged.”
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The firm conducted its survey between March 2022 and March 2023 with 7,774 passengers. To qualify, respondents had to have flown on a major North America airline within the past month of submitting their response. Airlines were evaluated in the following categories: aircraft, baggage, boarding, check-in, cost and fees, flight crew, in-flight services and reservations.
But it’s not all bad news. Especially on the fancier end of the spectrum, travelers are generally satisfied. Here’s how things break down.
JetBlue wins top marks in luxury category
First and business class travel overall was viewed more favorably by passengers for 2023. According to J.D. Power, it was the main category that saw a boost in favorability ratings from last year, largely because of the restoration of food and beverage service that had been scaled down earlier in the pandemic.
JetBlue took the top marks for business class this year, with favorable customer responses about its Mint cabin. Delta Air Lines and United Airlines rounded out the top three for the high-end cabins.
Delta Air Lines is favored for premium economy
Delta also did well in the premium economy segment where it got top marks, with JetBlue and Alaska Airlines rounding out the top three.
According to J.D. Power, the premium economy segment in this survey is primarily focused on extra legroom seats like Even More Space on JetBlue and Comfort+ on Delta, but respondents may have considered dedicated premium economy cabins like Premium Select on Delta or Premium Plus on United on North American flights where those products were offered.
Southwest remains a fan favorite for economy travel
The economy segment had the lowest customer satisfaction scores overall, but Southwest received the highest marks, followed by Delta and JetBlue.
“Annual declines in passenger satisfaction are most pronounced in the economy/basic economy segment where price-conscious passengers have found fewer airfare bargains this year,” J.D. Power’s release said.
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Spirit and Frontier Airlines received the second-lowest and lowest marks for satisfaction, respectively, across the survey.
As high-rated JetBlue and low-ranked Spirit prepare for a possible merger, pending the results of coming antitrust litigation, industry watchers are keeping a close eye on which of the two company cultures will win out.
Zach Wichter is a travel reporter for USA TODAY based in New York. You can reach him at zwichter@usatoday.com
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: J.D. Power rankings have Southwest on top for economy flights