UK: Which airlines left their customers most satisfied in 2022?
The skies are set to be crowded this year. The global demand for travel is at its highest point since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the growth is set to continue. According to data from YouGov Global Travel Profiles, 72% of Britons plan to take a holiday in the coming year, with 47% saying they’ll travel abroad.
Despite a lot of growth in 2022, the travel industry had a challenging year, plagued with delays and cancellations. In summer 2022, half of Britons who had travelled recently (50%) reported experiencing a delay or an outright cancellation of their flight. This led the majority (60%) to lose confidence that they would reach their future destinations without disruption.
With so many dissatisfied and suspicious customers, what airlines do Britons still trust? Which airlines not only get customers where they’re going, but leave them satisfied with the service? Which airlines managed to struggle through this and still leave its customers, on the whole, satisfied?
YouGov BrandIndex tracks more than 27000 brands worldwide according to 16 brand health metrics. Satisfaction is a net metric of the percentage of consumers who report being satisfied customers of a brand minus those who report being dissatisfied. The following table shows the 27 airlines tracked in Great Britain in order of most to least satisfying, based on their overall score for the year of 2022.
British Airways tops the list with a net Satisfaction score of 28.3, nearly 8 points higher than the runner-up, discount carrier easyJet, which scored 20.3. Virgin Atlantic, Jet2.com and TUI airways round out the top five. In last place, with more dissatisfied customers than satisfied ones is Ryanair, which has the only negative score of all the airlines tracked by BrandIndex at -4.2.
Luxury travellers—those who usually fly in first class or business class—agree with the general population on some things: British Airways is at the top of their list and Ryanair at the bottom. However, between those extremes, there’s a fair deal of variation. Emirates (17), Qatar Airways (13.2), and Singapore Airlines (10.8) and are in the top five most satisfying airlines for luxury travellers, with more affordable carriers such as easyJet (1.7) and Jet2 (2.3) falling to 24th and 21st place respectively. TUI Airways is at 9th place with a score of 5.9.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. A brand’s Satisfaction score is based on two questions: 'Of which of the following brands would you say you’re a “SATISFIED CUSTOMER”?' and 'Of which of the following brands would you say you’re a “DISSATISFIED CUSTOMER.' Data is from surveys of adults aged 18 years and above residing in Great Britain from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2022. Satisfaction scores are based on a four-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash