Why Is Southwest Travelers' Favorite Airline?

Southwest is the country's favorite airline, says a survey released last week, nominated by 26 percent of the respondents. That's good news for Southwest, of course, but the results from the Consumer Travel Alliance raise the question of just how to measure a favorite airline. Clearly, just asking, "What's your favorite airline," will result in lots of votes for big lines and few votes for smaller ones—after all, if a smaller line such as Virgin America or Frontier doesn't go where you want to go, it can hardly be your favorite no matter how good it might be. Even so, the survey provides some interesting insight about how the public views different lines.

First, the raw results: Straight favorite votes taper down from Southwest through, in this order, Continental, American, Delta, JetBlue, United, Alaska, AirTran, Virgin America, US Airways, Frontier, and Spirit.

But the really interesting results deal with the reasons travelers prefer the airlines they voted for and how different the resulting preference profiles are. When asked why they prefer their favorite line, with multiple responses possible, about 55 percent say "service," 47 percent say "price," 45 percent say, "frequent flyer program," 39 percent say "destinations," 38 percent say "schedule," and 27 percent say "comfortable seating." Keep in mind those results aren't the same as the relative importance of those factors only the way travelers attribute them to various lines. Within those limits, I found most of the results to be consistent with other preference data I've seen, although there are a few surprises:

• Southwest's main draw, as expected, is "price," at 83 percent, followed by "service" and "schedule," with a bottom score for "comfortable seating."
• Continental's travelers like its "service," at 72 percent, followed by "frequent flyer program" and "destinations," with a bottom score for "comfortable seating."
• American's flyers really like its frequent flyer program, at 79 percent, followed by "destinations" and "schedule," with a bottom score for "comfortable seating."
• Delta's travelers don't rate its frequent flyer program, at 62 percent, quite as high as American's, but it is still the top favorability factor, followed by "destinations" and "schedules," with a bottom score for "comfortable seating."
• JetBlue's travelers really like its "comfortable seating," at 69 percent, followed by "price" and "service," with a bottom score for "frequent flyer program."
• United's travelers favor its frequent flyer program, at 69 percent, below American but above Delta, followed by "destinations" and "comfortable seating," with bottom scores for "price" and "service" (tied). Although the survey didn't specify, United's good comfortable seating score is almost certainly based on its optional and extra-cost "Economy Plus" option; regular economy seating on United is as bad as on the other big lines.
• Alaska's top score is for "service," at 69 percent, followed by "frequent flyer program" and "destinations," with a bottom score for "comfortable seating."
• AirTran, like Southwest, scores high on "price," at 84 percent, followed by "schedule" and "service," with a bottom score for "frequent flyer program"
• Virgin America earns the survey's top score for "service," at 90 percent, followed by "comfortable seating" and "price," with a bottom score for "frequent flyer program."
• US Airways' travelers like it mainly for where and when it goes, with "destinations" at 53 percent and "schedule" at 47 percent, faint praise indeed for the line's product, and a zero score for "comfortable seating."

Sample sizes are too small to break out individual factors for Frontier and Spirit. That's probably just as well for Spirit, which has a pretty bad rep for passenger treatment.

All in all, the results should be encouraging for Southwest, Continental, JetBlue, and Virgin America. Even though it's smaller than American, Delta, or United, Continental still outscores them, indicating a substantial degree of preference. And votes for Alaska, JetBlue, and Virgin America are certainly high compared with their shares of the total market.

On the opposite end, United and particularly US Airways fare well below what their size would dictate, indicating—to put it kindly—a less than fully satisfied clientele. Clearly, these lines have some work to do.