Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and JetBlue Earn Top Customer Experience Ratings for Airlines, According to Temkin Group

WABAN, Mass., June 1, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and JetBlue Airlines deliver the best customer experience in the airline industry, according to the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers.

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Southwest Airlines took the top spot out of nine airlines in this year's ratings, earning a score of 75% and coming in 52^nd place overall out of 294 companies across 20 industries. Alaska Airlines and JetBlue Airlines tied for second place, each with a rating of 62% and an overall rank of 135^th.

Southwest has earned the highest score every year since the Ratings began in 2011, with the exception of 2015 when JetBlue shot up 15 percentage points to take first. This year, however, JetBlue's score decreased the most of any of the nine airlines evaluated, dropping 13 percentage points from 2015.

At the other end of the spectrum, Spirit Airlines received the lowest score in the industry with a rating of 40%, which put it in 284^th place overall. US Airways was the only other airline to get a "very poor" rating (below 50%).

Overall, the airlines industry averaged a 56% rating in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings and tied for 12^th place out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry decreased by seven percentage points between 2015 and 2016, dropping from 63% to 56%.

"Congratulations to Southwest for its continued excellence throughout the years," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Here are some additional findings from the airline industry:

• The ratings of all airlines in the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings are as follows: Southwest Airlines  (67%), Alaska Airlines (62%), JetBlue Airlines (62%), Delta Airlines (59%), Virgin America (55%), American Airlines (52%), United Airlines (51%), US Airways  (48%), and Spirit Airlines (40%).
• No airline improved its score between 2015 and 2016.
• JetBlue Airlines (-13 points) and Delta Airlines (-10 points) declined by the most percentage points between 2015 and 2016.

Now in its sixth year of publication, the 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings is the most comprehensive benchmark of customer experience in the industry, evaluating 294 companies across 20 industries: airlines, appliance makers, auto dealers, banks, car rental agencies, computer makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, health plans, hotel chains, insurance carriers, Internet service providers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, retailers, software firms, supermarket chains, TV service providers, utilities, and wireless carriers.

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company's Temkin Experience Rating.

In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good," and a score of 80% or above is considered "excellent." In this year's Temkin Experience Ratings, 20% of companies earned a "good" or "excellent" score, while 44% received a "poor" or "very poor" score.

The 2016 Temkin Experience Ratings, along with other ratings, can be accessed at the Temkin Ratings website, www.TemkinRatings.com.

The free report, "2016 Temkin Experience Ratings," is available for download at the Customer Experience Matters^® blog (ExperienceMatters.wordpress.com) and at the Temkin Group website, www.TemkinGroup.com.

About Temkin Group: Temkin Group is a leading customer experience research and consulting firm. Many of the world's largest brands rely on its insights and advice to steer their transformational journeys, and Temkin Group accelerates their results by combining customer experience thought leadership with a deep understanding of organizational dynamics. Rather than layering on cosmetic changes, Temkin Group helps companies embed practices within their culture by building up four core competencies: Purposeful Leadership, Employee Engagement, Compelling Brand Values, and Customer Connectedness. The firm's ongoing research identifies leading and emerging best practices for engaging the hearts and minds of customers, employees, and partners. For more information, contact Bruce Temkin at 617-916-2075 or send an email.

*Customer Experience Matters is a registered trademark of Temkin Group.

SOURCE Temkin Group