Social Media Analysis Shows Major Airlines Struggle with Consumer Satisfaction, While Some Smaller Carriers Fare Better

“Our analysis of the airline industry shows that to fully understand customer perceptions of quality of service, a comprehensive, multi-channel research approach must be taken. Consumer perceptions of quality gathered from social media need be part of the mix.”

Crimson Hexagon compared its study to the Airline Quality Rating (AQR), an annual industry ranking of the highest quality airlines and found several eye-opening results. Relying predominantly on data provided to the Department of Transportation by the airlines themselves, the AQR study does not factor consumer conversations about airline service levels into the quality equation.

By comparison, Crimson Hexagon’s analysis of more than 800,000 on-topic social media posts identified key consumer insights based on four categories of consumer discussion, including general positive or negative sentiment, pricing, services and in-flight experience. The study focused on nine national and regional airlines with domestic routes including Delta, United, Southwest, American, U.S. Airways, Continental, AirTran, JetBlue and Virgin America.

Key findings include:

• JetBlue takes the top spot in the Crimson Hexagon study with levels of positive consumer sentiment that far exceeded all other airlines analyzed
• AirTran, which ranked first in the traditional AQR assessment, only made it to the number four spot when ranked by Crimson Hexagon’s study
• Several smaller regional airline carriers were ranked higher for overall customer satisfaction by the Crimson Hexagon study compared to the AQR assessment

“Crimson Hexagon’s airline consumer study reveals that social media analysis adds an important new dimension to traditionally gathered consumer satisfaction data,” said Crimson Hexagon Vice President of Marketing Wayne St. Amand. “Our analysis of the airline industry shows that to fully understand customer perceptions of quality of service, a comprehensive, multi-channel research approach must be taken. Consumer perceptions of quality gathered from social media need be part of the mix.”

For additional details on how other top airlines fared with consumer satisfaction, download the full version of the Crimson Hexagon study.

About Crimson Hexagon, Inc.

Crimson Hexagon, founded in 2007, is the leading provider of analysis software that delivers business intelligence from Big Data sources like social media and other data types for global corporations. Powered by patented technology developed at Harvard University's Institute for Quantitative Social Science, the Crimson Hexagon ForSight™ platform delivers the industry’s most comprehensive Big Data analysis capabilities for a variety of large-scale data sources. Clients include leading global organizations such as: CBS Films, Microsoft, Paramount Pictures, Simon & Schuster, Starbucks, Twitter, The United Nations, and many more. To read the Crimson Hexagon blog: http://www.crimsonhexagon.com/blog/.


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