Who is helping United Airlines rebound? Their current customers

Ted MarzilliCEO YouGov Direct
August 01, 2017, 4:24 PM GMT+0

While United Airlines’ consumer perception is still below the rest of the industry following its April viral video crisis, its potential sales revenue and customer satisfaction metrics are rebounding, helped greatly by its own current customers, according to YouGov BrandIndex, the only daily brand consumer perception research service.

For United Airlines’ current customers, purchase consideration (an indicator of potential future revenue) and satisfaction metrics reached or nearly reached pre-crisis levels by early July, while for all adults the numbers still fall short.

The likely reason: there has been so much consolidation in the airline industry, United’s current customers probably don’t have many alternatives when it comes to their preferred travel routes.

The one metric where United Airlines is still well behind its pre-crisis numbers with all demographics is consumer perception, as measured by YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score. Buzz score asks respondents: "If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks — through advertising, news or word of mouth — was it positive or negative?" That is an indication that the April news stories are still resonating with consumers.

Despite the slow Buzz score rebound, it apparently has not stopped United Airlines customers from pushing their own purchase consideration and satisfaction metrics back up.