Delta Air Lines took top customer satisfaction honors in two service tiers—first/business and premium economy—while Southwest retained its top ranking for the economy/basic economy tier, according to the J.D. Power 2024 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, released Wednesday.

Delta traded places from last year’s rankings with JetBlue for the first/business tier, with the latter coming in second this year. They were the only two carriers with scores above the average for the category. For premium economy, which Delta also led in 2023, Alaska Airlines was second, followed by American Airlines each above the average. Following Southwest for economy/basic economy, Delta took second as it did in 2023, and Allegiant moved up from sixth place to third. 

The J.D. Power 2024 North America Airlines Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 9,582 passengers who flew on a major North America airline with the past month of completing the survey. The study was fielded from March 2023 through March 2024.

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As for whether overall satisfaction is better than last year, it’s difficult to tell, because J.D. Power revamped its methodology, changing how questions were asked and moving to a six-category scale from a one- to 10-point scale, which resulted in overall lower scores across the categories.

“You really can’t compare last year’s score to this year’s score,” J.D. Power senior managing director of travel, hospitality, retail and customer service Michael Taylor told BTN. Still, he added that “I would say things are probably the same as they were last year, if not slightly worse. The basic underlying problems of the industry still remain, which is [that] we don’t have enough aircraft flying and prices are quite high, even though demand has not slacked off. … There’s still upside [and] potential.”

Instead of ranking carriers from one to 10, survey takers could rate carriers “poor,” “just okay”, “good,” “great,” “excellent” and “perfect,” Taylor said. The dimensions ranked also shifted from eight to seven, including airline staff, digital tools, ease of travel, level of trust, on-board experience, pre- and post-flight experience and value for price paid.

Two big factors driving overall airline satisfaction were ease of travel and level of trust. “While things like value for price paid are important, it is more important to passengers just to have a seamless flight,” according to the report. 

Taylor added that digital tools scored high as well across all the categories. “Everybody likes the apps,” he said. “They’re getting to the point where they’re easy to use, they’re really communicating well, operating well, and people who use the bag-tracking part of the app—that was worth a lot of points. That was a big swing factor.”

Media coverage also had a major influence on trust scores, according to the report. “Overall satisfaction scores for trust are 400 points lower on a 1,000-point scale among passengers who saw negative news coverage of an airline’s performance in the past year,” according to J.D. Power. 

Still, “the big takeaway from this year’s study in the power of people to positively influence the overall flight experience,” Taylor said in a statement. “Airlines that are investing in staff training and recruitment are finding ways to overcome the negative effects of crowded gates and planes simply by being nice to their customers.”

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Enhances permissible weight of pet carriage to 10kgs in cabin Achieves milestone of carrying more than 3,200 pets since the launch of Pets on Akasa service

Akasa Air, India’s most dependable airline, recently declare key enhancements to its pet-travel service – Pets on Akasa. Moreover, the airline has also crossed the milestone of carrying 3,200+ pets since the service launched in November 2022.

As part of the enhancements, Akasa Air now allows customers to travel with pets weighing up to 10 kgs in the cabin – an increase from the previous limit of 7 kgs. This change has been introduced keeping customer feedback in mind, reflecting the airline’s commitment to continuously enhance its services to meet the evolving travel needs of its customers.

In addition, Akasa Air is implementing an enhanced travel certificate policy to provide greater flexibility for customers. Travel certificates issued for pets will now remain valid for up to 15 days instead of three days, adding convenience for customers booked on return for short-term travel. Customers travelling for longer than 15 days will be required to obtain a new travel certificate.

Customers booked with their pets on Akasa Air, also enjoy a host of complimentary value-added services such as a pre-booked window seat, priority baggage delivery and priority boarding that elevates their flying experience. Akasa Air has invested in extensive research and training across its customer care centre, airports, and in-flight teams, underscoring the airline’s dedication towards maintaining the highest standards of care, safety, and comfort throughout the journey. Furthermore, Akasa Air has also partnered with Umeed for Animals Foundation to implement best practices by collaborating across processes and policies to continuously enhance pet comfort and safety.

Commenting on the product enhancement, Belson Coutinho, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, at Akasa Air said, “Thanks to the love and support of pet parents and their constructive feedback, we are pleased to announce key enhancements to our Pets on Akasa service. This positive change not only reinforces our commitment to listening to feedback from our customers but also endorses our culture of using feedback for continuous improvement.

Mr. Coutinho added, “Since the inception of our Pets on Akasa service, we have worked to create an inclusive and humane travel experience and we are pleased to have flown over 3,200 pets since the start of our Pets on Akasa service.”

Launched on 1st November 2022, Pets on Akasa allows customers to travel on domestic flights across 22 cities with their cats and dogs in the cabin or cargo, based on their weight. Akasa Air has introduced multiple quality products and differentiated services to ensure an inclusive, warm and comfortable flying experience. Its brand-new fleet provides generous legroom for enhanced comfort and comes with in-seat USB charging ports in a majority of aircraft. Café Akasa, the airline’s onboard meal service offers an assortment of healthy and delectable meals, including festive menus and industry-first options such as Kombucha, to offer customers an indulgent gourmet experience in the skies. Travelers can choose to plan their travel with Akasa Holidays which offers customisable and all-inclusive holiday packages at affordable prices. In addition, in an endeavour to make travel inclusive, Akasa Air has introduced its safety instruction card and onboard menu card in Braille for persons with visual impairment.
Since its launch in August 2022, Akasa Air has served over 8 million passengers and connects with 22 cities, namely Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kochi, Delhi, Guwahati, Agartala, Pune, Lucknow, Goa, Hyderabad, Varanasi, Bagdogra, Bhubaneswar, Kolkata, Port Blair, Ayodhya, Gwalior, Srinagar, Prayagraj and Doha (Qatar).

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Experimental flight was ‘pivotal moment but not silver bullet’, says Branson



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