While many business travelers care about flying via cheap airplane tickets and staying at discount hotel rooms or taking advantage of discount travel packages, some large US airlines appear to be doing a better job of catering to such travelers.
Delta was rated number one for the first time in the Annual Airline Survey conducted by the Business Travel News (BTN). The results were based on a poll of over 400 travel managers and buyers who spent over $500,000 annually on flights booked in the U.S. BTN considered ten categories including price value, flexibility in negotiation of prices, complaint resolution, and customer service.
Flexibility in structuring transient and meeting pricing helped Delta finish in first place over United. Delta also ranked highest in complaint/problem resolution, quality of communications, and value of its network and partners.
The following are how the largest five U.S. airlines performed:
Delta Airlines achieved the highest BTN score of 3.14. Delta ranked first in five out of the ten categories reviewed.
United Airlines/Continental came in second with a BTN score of 3.12. The merger of United and Continental in 2010 resulted in the airline becoming the worlds largest, replacing Delta. Continental was last years highest rated airline. United came in first in three categories, one of which was quality of customer service.
US Airways came in third with a BTN score of 3.07 which was an improvement from its last place finish the prior year. The airline received the highest rating in two categories: the value of relationships with account managers and overall price value.
American Airlines came in fourth with a BTN score of 2.94 vs. a second place finish in 2010. American scores fell in every category, with the biggest drops related to buyers perceptions of the value of its network and partnerships, quality of communications and availability of distribution channels.
Southwest was ranked worst with a BTN score of 2.90. Southwest ranked last or second to last in all but one category.
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