Southwest Airlines Leaps To Top Of Customer Service In VocaLabs SectorPulse Airlines Report

Posted by Anonymous on October 26, 2004

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., October 28, 2004 - In the most recent Vocal Laboratories SectorPulse Airlines report, issued October 15th, Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) leaped to the top of the customer service standings among the eight airlines evaluated.

VocaLabs A for Caller Satisfaction

Southwest was the clear winner in customer service quality, earning an "A" ranking in both Caller Satisfaction and Call Completion, dramatically improving its scores from the last report, when they received a "B" in Caller Satisfaction and a "D" in Call Completion.

VocaLabs A for Call Completion

JetBlue (NasdaqNM: JBLU) was a close second with an "A" in Caller Satisfaction and a "B" in Call Completion, improving its Caller Satisfaction score from a "B" in the last report.

The other companies included in this report were:

  • American Airlines (AMR: NYSE) fell behind from leading the last report to a "B" in both Caller Satisfaction and Call Completion.
  • Continental Airlines (NYSE:CAL) scored a "B" in Caller Satisfaction and Call Completion C.
  • Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) scored a "C" in Caller Satisfaction and a "D" in Call Completion
  • Northwest Airlines (NasdaqNM: NWAC) scored a "B" in Caller Satisfaction and a "B" in Call Completion
  • Airlines (OTC BB: UALAQ.OB) scored a "C" in Caller Satisfaction and a "C" in Call Completion
  • US Airways (NasdaqNM: UAIR) scored a "C" in Caller Satisfaction and a "D" in Call Completion

The common mentioned complaint was the long hold time, one panelist stated. "[The company should] tell you how much the estimated wait is before talking to a live person. I was on hold for at least 5 minutes waiting to confirm my reservation before giving up. They did mention that I could go online or call another # for assistance, so I hung up and decided to try another option."

Data for this study were collected between April 2004 and September 2004. VocaLabs recorded 1,189 customer calls to eight different airlines, and surveyed the callers about their experience afterward. Airlines included in this report are America, Continental, Delta, JetBlue, Northwest, Southwest, United, and USAir.

About SectorPulse Airlines

VocaLabs SectorPulse reports compare the customer service quality for different companies in the same industry, using data and call recordings from the companies' customers.

VocaLabs has recruited over 80,000 individuals to provide feedback on customer service experiences, from which we drew the participants for this study. VocaLabs panelists who are customers of one of the companies included in this study were asked to participate by having their customer service calls recorded and completing a survey after the call.

An Executive Summary and SectorPulse Wireless data report are available by subscription. Please contact Jessica Ament at jament@vocalabs.com

About Vocal Laboratories

Vocal Laboratories delivers statistically reliable feedback on the user friendliness of telephone based customer service whether delivered via traditional call centers or self-serve technology. Clients are end user enterprises, call center consultants, application providers and equipment vendors. Only VocaLabs has the unique methodology to evaluate a customer contact application at any stage of development from prototype through existing services quickly, cost effectively and with maximum accuracy.