Rising value scores for airlines help some in purchase consideration

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
March 23, 2017, 1:03 PM GMT+0

Cheaper basic economy fares and lower prices to Europe and Asia seem to have raised the consumer value perception of most airlines. However, only a few of the carriers are benefiting in potential sales revenue metrics.

While a statistically significant jump in value perception of American Airlines, United, and Delta – which introduced no-perk basic economy fares in mid-February – from one year ago might be expected, other airlines also saw an increase: JetBlue, Alaska Air and Virgin America.

Both United and American climbed two spots in value perception ranking from one year ago, landing in fourth and sixth place respectively, and displacing Alaska Air which is down one spot in fifth place.

Still firmly leading in value perception is Southwest, with second place JetBlue coming in at just less than half their value score.

Two of the three new “basic economy fare” airlines have seen a significant increase in purchase consideration, a key metric of potential sales revenue: Delta and United.

American Airlines improved too, but only at half the amount of the other two airlines. There seem to be other factors holding American back from the same purchase consideration boost: until this week being a hold-out on free meals on coast-to-coast flights, complicating its boarding process, or continued blowback from its new uniforms making flight attendants sick.

35% of consumers said they’d consider flying Delta the next time they booked a flight (+2%), 32% for American (+1%), and 31% for United (+2%).

Two other airlines showed a statistically significant improvement in purchase consideration from one year ago: Virgin America and Spirit.

YouGov BrandIndex measured all major domestic airlines with its Value score, asking respondents: "Does it give good value for what you pay?"

Value score ranges from -100 to 100 with a zero score equaling a neutral position.

Purchase Consideration: US Domestic Airlines

Value: US Domestic Airlines