To no surprise, cheap flights still prevail.
Flying is cheaper than ever"”but that doesn’t stop people from complaining about how little they get for their money. And now, a new poll from Reuters/Ipsos finds what everyone already knew to be true: airline passengers care more about what’s cheapest than anything else in air travel.
In a poll of 2,316 Americans, 83 percent said ticket prices were the most important factor in travel"”more than airline loyalty or any other travel perks. In fact, 60 percent of all respondents said they’d rather sit in a middle seat than pay more for their flight, proving once again cheap trumps all. Additionally, 52 percent of respondents said they wouldn’t pay more to fly with a preferred airline. In flying, most people are brand agnostic, so long as the price is right.
Anecdotally, plenty of other evidence speaks to this same point, with the proliferation of cheap transatlantic flights, the continued success of airlines like Spirit despite poor service ratings, and the introduction of basic economy fares by legacy carriers in the U.S.
On the flip side, as Reuters notes, passengers’ own hierarchy of needs helps airlines in the face of PR disasters: Despite a public fiasco when a passenger was violently dragged off a flight in early April, United Airlines posted better-than-expected earnings during the second quarter of 2017. Despite the draconian restrictions that come with the airline’s basic economy fare"”including the overhead bin being verboten"”40 percent of economy passengers are already choosing United’s basic fare over regular fare, and American Airlines is seeing 52 percent of its passengers doing the same…
