Eighty Percent of Airline Passengers are Satisfied, A4A Says

Eighty percent of airline travelers surveyed said they are satisfied with the experience, according to study commissioned by trade group Airlines for America (A4A). The generally sunny findings of the “Status of Air Travel” survey—A4A’s first in nearly two decades—belied some other recent indicators of airline passenger contentment.

“We know this is an industry of anecdotes, largely because air travel is so relatable,” Jean Medina, A4A senior vice president of communications, said April 13 during a telephone briefing announcing the survey findings. “We wanted to have the data and not just the anecdotes, so we could get a picture of who’s traveling by air—why, where and how often.”

The online survey of 3,019 Americans aged 18 or over was conducted by market research firm Ipsos Public Affairs in mid-December. The trade group’s last such survey was a telephone poll of roughly the same number of people conducted by Gallup in 1998.

Total travel price was ranked as the most important factor in deciding whether to travel by air by 86 percent of respondents to the latest survey, while “amenities at the airport” was ranked most important by the smallest number of respondents (30 percent). The emphasis on price comported with some of the survey’s economic findings—that more than half of travelers last year came from households with less than $75,000 in income, and that people with less than $50,000 in household income are more likely to fly today than 18 years ago.

Two-thirds of respondents indicated that they prefer the “à la carte” pricing model of low base fares, with separate fees charged for amenities, “because it allows them to pay only for the goods and services they want,” Medina said.

“The overarching finding we came away with from the survey enforces what we’ve been saying for awhile now. It’s a great time to fly because air travel today is accessible and affordable for more Americans than ever before,” she said. “Price, convenience and reliability are the main reasons people fly, and the majority feel that airlines are providing that.”

Federal statistics paint a less rosy picture. In February, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) reported that it received 15,260 complaints from passengers on U.S. airlines in 2015, increasing from the 11,365 complaints it received the previous year. Spirit Airlines ranked highest among 13 listed carriers with 10.97 complaints per 100,000 enplanements, followed by Frontier Airlines at 5.09. Both use the à la carte pricing model.

Ninety-one percent of A4A survey respondents ranked legroom and seat comfort as the most important factor for an in-flight experience, exceeding the percentage of satisfied travelers. Earlier this month, the U.S. Senate voted down an amendment by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) that would have empowered the Federal Aviation Administration to set minimum seat size and pitch standards. Schumer contends that average seat pitch—a measure of space between rows of seats that is often used to indicate legroom—has declined from 35 inches before airline industry deregulation in the 1970s to 31 inches today. Seat width has narrowed from 18.5 inches to 17 inches in the last quarter century. “When talking to travelers, the number one complaint I hear is shrinking legroom and cramped seats,” the senator said in February.

A reporter asked A4A chief economist John Heimlich if survey results on the in-flight experience served as a “warning” to airlines that they shouldn’t be reducing seat size.

“There were several factors that (passengers) highlighted as important, and seat comfort was clearly high among them,” Heimlich acknowledged. But, he added: “I don’t see actually evidence that seat comfort has declined or that even seat size has declined. What we do see evidence of is more segmentation of cabins and more diversity in business models—some (carriers) who emphasize more of the premium cabin and some who emphasize a strict low-fare, all-coach cabin, and some who do things in between…I think it’s that type of segmentation that is making the skies more accessible that ever before.”

With airline profitability improving, Heimlich said carriers are reinvesting money into seat design, cabin layouts, larger overhead bins and “new and more comfortable airplanes.”