April 27th, 2023, Lesley Simeon
Months after Storm Elliot wreaked havoc with airlines’ flights and schedules, especially those of Southwest Airlines, the carrier has again faced cancellation and delay woes. It recently paused its departures, with technical problems delaying over 1,800 of its flights. Earlier this year, the airline was also the hardest hit carrier following an FAA outage.
However, Southwest has also taken steps in order to “recover and serve” its customers better. It is looking at improving winter operations, investing in technology and tools, and bolstering cross-team collaboration to streamline decision-making.
Has the airline recovered since the holiday season?
According to YouGov BrandIndex - which tracks consumer sentiment towards thousands of brands daily - Southwest Airlines’ Index score has recovered slightly after its post-2022 holiday season dip. The metric - which is an overall measure of brand health, made up of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation and Recommendation - went from a low of a net score of -1 on January 26, 2023 to 16 on April 22, 2023.
Similarly, its Quality score - which measures whether the brand represents poor or good quality - grew to a net score of 13 on April 22, 2023 from a low of -6 on January 24, 2023. The brand’s Value metric - which measures whether the brand represents poor or good value for customers’ money - pulled itself out of negative territory.
Interestingly, Southwest Airline’s Current Customer score has remained mostly unchanged between December 1, 2022 and April 22, 2023.
We explore YouGov data to also see which other airlines Southwest’s former customers are considering.
According to data from BrandIndex, between April 24, 2022 and October 23, 2022, more than half (53%) of Southwest Airlines’ former customers considered Southwest Airlines. The number has dipped to 46% between October 24, 2022 and April 23, 2023.
Consideration for American Airlines among this audience has slightly increased, from 38% to 41%. Similarly, consideration for United Airlines has increased three percentage points, from 37% to 40%.
Consideration for Delta Air Lines and JetBlue among former Southwest Airlines’ passengers has remained more or less unchanged across the observation period.
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Methodology: YouGov BrandIndex collects data on thousands of brands every day. Southwest Airline’s Satisfaction score is based on the question: Of which of the following airlines would you say that you are a satisfied customer of/dissatisfied customer of? and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Its 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. Its Index score is an overall measure of brand health, made up of General Impression, Customer Satisfaction, Quality, Value, Corporate Reputation and Recommendation and delivered as a net score between –100 and +100. Its Quality score is based on the question: Which of the following airlines do you think represents good quality/poor quality? and delivered as net score between –100 and +100. Its Current Customer is based on the question: Have you purchased a flight from any of the following airlines in the past 12 months and delivered as a percentage. Scores are based on an average daily sample size of 1902/4330 US adults between December 1, 2022 and April 22, 2023/April 24, 2022 and April 23, 2023. Figures are based on a four-week moving average. Learn more about BrandIndex.
Photo by Miguel Ángel Sanz on Unsplash