Southwest Airlines Leaps To Top Of Customer Service In VocaLabs SectorPulse Airlines Report

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. - In the most recent Vocal Laboratories SectorPulse Airlines report, issued October 15, 2004, Southwest Airlines leaped to the top of the customer service standings among the eight airlines evaluated.

Southwest was the winner in customer service quality, earning an "A" ranking in both caller satisfaction and call completion, improving its scores from the last report, when they received a "B" in caller satisfaction and a "D" in call completion.

JetBlue was a close second with an "A" in caller satisfaction and a "B" in call completion, improving its caller satisfaction score from a "B" in the last report.

The other companies included in this report were:

• American Airlines fell behind from leading the last report to a "B" in both caller satisfaction and call completion.
• Continental Airlines scored a "B" in caller satisfaction and a "C" in call completion.
• Delta Air Lines scored a "C" in caller satisfaction and a "D" in call completion.
• Northwest Airlines scored a "B" in caller satisfaction and a "B" in call completion.
• United Airlines scored a "C" in caller satisfaction and a "C" in call completion.
• US Airways scored a "C" in caller satisfaction and a "D" in call completion.

The common mentioned complaint was the long hold time, one panelist stated. "[The company should] tell you how much the estimated wait is before talking to a live person. I was on hold for at least 5 minutes waiting to confirm my reservation before giving up. They did mention that I could go online or call another number for assistance, so I hung up and decided to try another option."

Data for this study were collected between April 2004 and September 2004. VocaLabs recorded 1,189 customer calls to eight different airlines, and surveyed the callers about their experience afterward. Airlines included in this report are America, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, Southwest, United, and USAir.