US: How are Americans reacting to Southwest Airlines’ massive flight delays?
Owing to the brutal winter storm across North America, US commercial air traffic has had to weather massive flight cancellations and delays over the holiday weekend. Southwest Airlines cancelled close to 3,000 flights or 70% of its total flights a day after Christmas – more than any other US-based airline. At 265 flight cancellations, Delta ranks at a distant second. Several hundred Southwest flights were delayed as well.
How have the string of flight disruptions impacted the Dallas-based carrier?
According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily - Southwest’s Value, Consideration, Quality, Recommend and Satisfaction metrics have dipped in the past few days.
The airline’s Consideration metric - which indicates how many consumers are considering purchasing from the brand when next in market - has recorded the biggest drop among the metrics we track. From a score of 31% on 12 December 2022, the metric has fallen to 23% on 26 December 2022. Understandably, the brand’s Satisfaction metric - which measures whether customers are satisfied or dissatisfied with the brand - also dipped going from a net score of 24 on 12 December 2022 to 20 post-Christmas.
The low-cost carrier’s Value metric - which measures whether the brand represents poor or good value for customers’ money - changed from 26 on 12 December 2022 to 17 on 26 December 2022. Finally, Recommendation scores - which identify brands that consumers tell their friends and colleagues to avoid and those they recommend to them - fell from a score of 22 to 18.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Southwest’s Consideration score is based on the question: When you are in the market next to book a flight, from which of the following would you consider purchasing a ticket? and delivered as a percentage. It’s Value score is based on the question: Which of the following airlines do you think represents good value for money/poor value for money? and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. It’s Quality score is based on the question: Which of the following airlines do you think represents good quality/poor quality? and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. It’s Recommendation score is based on the question: Which of the following airlines would you recommend to a friend or colleagues? And which of the following airlines would you tell a friend or colleague to avoid? and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. It’s Satisfaction score is based on the question: Of which of the following airlines would you say that you are a satisfied customer/dissatisfied customer? and delivered as a net score between -100 and +100. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 212 US adults between 12 December 2022 and 26 December 2022. Figures are based on a three-day moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
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