Even as airlines improve onboard technology and premium-class services, corporate travel buyers and business travelers alike still place the most value on the basics.
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Both buyers and travelers rated on-time performance as the most important service aspect that airlines deliver. Both groups also gave relatively positive scores to airlines for their performance in that metric.
"That really is the key, especially for business travel, because things are scheduled so tightly," said Christopher Anderson, who takes at least six roundtrip flights per month as part of his work in clinical research. "It's been getting a little bit worse lately. I've had a higher percentage of mishaps, not being on time, in the past eight months than I'm used to, though I realize some things are out of their control."
U.S. Department of Transportation statistics bear out his observations. Year-to-date as of August, the department's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported 74.8 percent of flights on U.S. airlines as "on time"—no later than 15 minutes past the scheduled arrival time—down 2.7 percentage points from the same period in 2013 and the lowest level for the comparable time period since 2008. The rate of canceled flights for that period was 2.7 percent, up 1.1 percentage points from the prior year and the highest level since 2001.
Vicious winter weather in the first part of this year is in part to blame for that bump in delays and cancellations. Chicago's O'Hare International Airport has had a particularly rough year, ranking dead last among major U.S. airports in on-time performance so far in 2014. Through August, 65.9 percent of arrivals at O'Hare were on time, down 5.7 percentage points compared with the year prior, according to DOT.
Among major U.S. carriers, Delta Air Lines has had the best on-time performance year-to-date through August, with 82 percent of flights reported on time, according to DOT. US Airways, which still reports data separately following its merger with American Airlines, is second at 79.5 percent, followed by American and United Airlines, each at 75.1 percent, according to the department.
Southwest Airlines trailed other major carriers with an on-time performance of 71.1 percent through August. The airline's vice president of technology of product solutions, Joe Migis, noted improving on-time performance is one of its top priorities.
"We've already started to see some improvement in September, and we want to continue that from this year into next year," Migis said.
For corporate travel buyers, good overall value for the price and desired flight schedules closely followed on-time performance in terms of service quality importance. While buyers scored airlines relatively well for flight schedules, they showed much lower satisfaction levels with the overall value, giving it the third-lowest rating of any metric for airlines.
Kim Kaye, global director of travel, expense and policy for Keysight Technologies, noted that value and on-time performance are linked.
"So often, they're all fairly similar as to what the price point is," Kaye said. "We're looking for components like whether they will get the travelers there on time so they can be more productive in their jobs."
Airlines, meanwhile, are looking for other ways to show differentiating value as related to cost. Delta, for example, recently has reintroduced its basic economy fares, which offer the lowest fares for those travelers willing to waive such privileges as advance seat assignments or complimentary upgrades.
"When we compete against Spirit or other ultra-low-cost carriers, we always want to have the best product competing against that," Glen Hauenstein, Delta's executive vice president of network planning and revenue management, said this month during the company's third-quarter earnings call. "[With] the products that we're introducing in basic economy, you get the reliability of Delta and you get all the operational excellence of Delta, but you don't get some of the amenities that you don't need."
More direct to the travel buyer's perspective, a Delta spokesperson also pointed to the carrier's "Edge" program, launched for corporate clients earlier this year. Among the program's features are a corporate portal through which buyers can access Sky Partner reports with client-specific performance metrics and a points-based system through which corporate clients can manage name changes, fee waivers and preferred seating.
The value proposition would be even better realized, Kaye said, were buyers able to "from a negotiation standpoint, have the capability to look at total cost—not just the airfare, but all ancillaries." Doing so has remained elusive for many buyers, though a few have made progress. Oracle, for example, has been able to get certain ancillary fees, including checked-bag and upgrade fees, to count toward its contracts whenever there was a spending shortfall.
Buyers and travelers both rated efficient baggage handling as highly important; for travelers, it was the second-most-important service quality of all. Both also gave relatively high satisfaction marks to carriers for baggage handling.
Rob Cordell, a frequent traveler as an executive director and counsel at a securities firm, said that while he tries to avoid checking luggage whenever possible, "nothing makes me crazier than to wait a long time if I have to check a bag or take a document box." He added that performance by his preferred airline has "been adequate, though every once in a while there's a blip and you wait longer than expected."
DOT statistics, meanwhile, show that mishandled luggage reports at U.S. airlines in August were up year over year to 3.69 reports per 1,000 passengers, compared with 3.12 reports in August 2013. Mishandled luggage reports also were up year over year at American, Delta and United, though Delta (2.45 reports) and United (3.32 reports) each fared better than average.
Virgin America (1.06 reports), Frontier Airlines (1.87 reports), Hawaiian Airlines (2.18 reports) and JetBlue Airways (2.32 reports) had the best baggage records for the month.
Overall in the survey, airlines received the lowest satisfaction marks from both buyers and travelers in the comfort criteria. Buyers gave airlines the lowest score for comfortable seats; travelers gave the lowest marks for adequate legroom, followed by comfortable seats.
As many airlines have added capacity without adding fleet—which in part has involved adding more economy seats to existing planes—some travelers have taken notice.
"It's definitely gotten worse, where it seems like they're trying to cram more seats in," Anderson said. "I try to get the exit row when I can, but I have been on planes where it's been painfully uncomfortable."
Cordell concurred, noting that he depended on frequent-flyer status for either upgrades or premium-economy seating and even would eschew the option of flying standby on earlier flights as it would likely mean being stuck in a tighter seat.
At the same time, airlines have been boosting comfort in premium cabins. Delta, for example, has installed full flatbed seats with direct-aisle access on all widebody overseas flights. United, similarly, has put flatbed seats on all long-haul international flights from the continental United States, according to senior vice president of worldwide sales Dave Hilfman.
Both buyers and travelers gave the highest overall satisfaction scores in the airline category to premium-class services. However, they also were rated lowest in terms of importance for travelers and second-lowest for buyers, with only lounge access rating as less important.
Airlines also have stepped up efforts to provide inflight Internet access. United plans by the end of next year to have Wi-Fi throughout its mainline fleet and larger, two-class regional jets, Hilfman said, and Delta in 2012 installed the service on 590 domestic mainline aircraft and completed installation on regional jets.
Inflight Wi-Fi ranked low in terms of importance to both buyers and travelers, though both groups gave the service relatively high satisfaction marks. In-seat power was rated slightly more important by both groups.
BTN surveys in recent years have shown initial reticence from corporations in reimbursing for inflight Wi-Fi, and for some business travelers, it's not an essential component of productivity.
"I'm probably just too old, but I'm past the mark where I feel like I want to be connected at all times," Cordell said. "I need to turn it off for that period, and if I have something I want to review, I'll take a physical printed document."
Even so, the Delta spokesperson said the carrier's internal feedback had indicated that "people are choosing Delta based on Wi-Fi availability."
This report originally appeared in the Oct. 27, 2014, edition of Business Travel News.