What do airline passengers really want — besides a good fare?

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What’s the first thing you look for in an airline ticket?

If you said, “a low price,” you’re absolutely right. In a survey of air travelers conducted last week, 77 percent said they consider the fare first.

But airlines have used that answer to justify cutting customer service and “unbundling” prices — removing everything but a base fare — without asking the simple question: What else do you want?

So we decided to dig a little deeper. In a survey of more than 800 readers of this site and Consumer Traveler, we continued the conversation. Here are the results.

We asked you to name up to three important elements of a ticket, so the percentages don’t add up to 100:

Schedule - 48 percent

Non-stop vs. connecting flight – 47 percent

Luggage charges and other fees – 36 percent

Frequent flier benefits – 21 percent

Extra legroom - 20 percent

Airports served (which area airport is selected) – 19 percent

Reputation of airline service – 15 percent

Business class availability – 6 percent

The survey also allowed readers to write in responses. Among the most popular answers:

• An all-inclusive airfare.

• To be treated like a customer.

• Flexibility to change without fees.

• More overhead bin space.

• Enough seat width.

Follow-up conversations with the survey respondents suggest they require more than a cheap ticket price.

“I look for a fair price,” says Jim Daniel, a business traveler from Modesto, Calif. Beyond that, he has a tick-list that includes service, space and schedule. And when an airline can’t deliver — which increasingly, it can’t — he decides to drive instead of fly.

Other air travelers say it’s not a matter of what they look for, but what they try to avoid. Specifically, extra fees, such as checking a first bag or to change a ticket.

“It’s ridiculous,” says one respondent, who is a frequent air traveler. “And I vote with my wallet. When I travel on my own dime, I use JetBlue and Southwest.”

Either way, passenger say they feel as if airlines can’t or won’t listen to them.

“Airlines do know what passengers want,” says one passenger. “They just don’t care. As long as they have people coming back in earnest, the shenanigans and schemes will continue.”

  • Tom

    I completely agree with the survey and the agreement between airlines and passengers that price is the most important issue. For all the carping about fat people, kids, the TSA, how things were better in the old days, how foreign flags provide luxurious service, etc.; It comes down to price. After you get a good price, you want a good schedule and a non-stop flight. Everything else which people on blogs like this whine about just isn’t that important.

  • http://wpjrnl.com wpjrnl

    I think I’m among the minority in this survey, I rather look for flexibility, availability on business class, schedule, build milleage to use on vacation rather than price. I think most of business frequent travelers do.

  • Carver

    I find it amusing that the business traveler swears by Southwest. As Arizona has repeatedly stated, they’re not always the best deal. Case in point, I am traveling from SFO to LAX this Friday.

    AA wanted $59
    Southwest wanted $141

    Even with a baggage fee, Southwest remains the high priced leader. I don’t understand why we laud Southwest when it simply added the baggage fee into its price and then some extra for good measure

  • Don

    I want to be treated professionally and consistently. Airlines cannot give you the same answer twice, and the second answer is always to their benefit.

    This is related to change fees, and re-scheduling. I want flexibility. Most airlines besides Southwest abuse their customers who might need to change a schedule. It makes no business sense, it is just a way of snipping off fees from people who become increasingly alienated.

  • Philip

    Yes, to all of the above. What I don’t like is that it seems like a game of “winners”and “losers.” Destinations are so diverse that we cannot expect perfect connections. I find flexibility in changing planes and sometimes hours of layovers to be the most disturbing. (I prepare myself with magazines and my Kindle). I also expect the best and courteous help from airline personnel to help in making the best choices. They work for us: we are not the enemy. We are hearing too many horror stories. On the other hand, difficult traveling is just one day out of our lives and we have to grin and bear it. The bottom line is getting from point A to point B. No sense whining.

  • Harriet Warner

    I look for the final COST and not what the airlines publish as their price. All the ancillary fees are part of the actual cost of traveling. Baggage is a necessity and not an option!

  • CTP

    I agree that price and schedule without connections is important, but also of huge importance to me is the seat pitch. To be crammed in a middle seat with 29-32″ pitch is to be avoided almost at all costs for me (I am 5’9″ with most of my height in my legs) Seat selection is important to many as evidenced by sites that give travelers data about seating in aircrafts such as Seat Guru.

  • BucksterSF

    “Airlines do know what passengers want,” says one passenger. “They just don’t care. ”

    This is the most ridiculous and entitled thing I have ever heard. Are these companies charities? We vote with our dollars and get exactly the level of service we ask for.

  • BillC

    I take the fare into account but include any other fees when I do.

  • Mark K

    @Carver

    Yes, last minute fares on Southwest are usually higher than other airlines so picking next Friday to fly results in high fares. In fact, any air ticket purchased less than a week before the flight will be higher than one with a longer advance purchase in most cases on most airlines.

    If you go out a week or two for your SFO LAX flight, the Southwest fare drops to $59 matching the AA fare. And if you check 2 bags, AA charges you $60 extra at that fare level making their total double that of SW which includes the 2 bags for free.

    I understand that a lot of business travel is booked last minute, because I do that a lot myself, but if you know your travel plans far enough in advance SW can be and usually is the more affordable option.

    But affordability is not always the prime driver for which airline to fly especially for business. I fly SW when it makes sense to do so (nonstop flights arriving at a sensible time). Many times it makes better sense to fly another airline because the scheduled flight times and which airports are served for my destination better fit my requirements. (And I like having planes with business or first class sections for longer flights where I might get lucky enough to get bumped up into one of them.)

  • barbie45

    Carver,how right you Are. I too have noticed that fees to a destination I want are higher. I am also sick of all the praise this airline recieves.

  • Mark K

    In order for the airlines to meet the #1 requirement of most flyers, the lowest fare possible, they simply have to continue to cut things out that used to be included. If they don’t, they will go out of business. And fewer airlines does not mean better airlines.

    This means that we only have 1 or 2 baggage check lanes open when we used to have 10. It means that we talk to someone on a country where minimum wage is in dollars per week instead of dollars per hour when we call about anything. It means more rows of seats added to the plane that was never designed to carry as many people as it already does. It means no food, no pillows, no blankets. It means paying $6 for a drink that you could get anywhere except on a plane for half that. It means that checking bags, changing your flight selection, or even just talking to someone on the phone when you want to do something you can’t on the website can cost you more than your flight does.

    What this should never mean is that you as the customer get treated rudely and without respect. The airline employee you are dealing with should not be there if they cannot do their job in a civil and professional manner. If they can’t handle dealing with irate customers. or even just inquisitive customers, without becoming irate themselves maybe they should go work in another industry where customer contact is not required. This is what airlines just don’t seem to get – we want to deal with happy, helpful employees. I get treated better when I go into a McDonalds and have a problem with my $1 hamburger than when I have a problem with my plane ticket that cost hundreds of dollars.

    Don’t get me wrong, there are many professional and helpful employees at all of the airlines. And I thank them for being there and doing more than just the minimum their job requires. I have dealt with many of them over the years and could go on and on about how many of my trips were saved by one of them going out of their way to get me where I needed to be. It just seems that there are fewer of the good ones that are actually in the customer contact area.

  • bodega

    Carver@ you said:
    Even with a baggage fee, Southwest remains the high priced leader. I don’t understand why we laud Southwest when it simply added the baggage fee into its price and then some extra for good measure

    What you don’t understand is that both carriers have the same fares. What you are seeing is what is available for the time and date you need to travel.

    BucksterSF@you said:
    We vote with our dollars and get exactly the level of service we ask for

    I didn’t ask for unbundling. I am willing to go back to a fare that allows me to check my luggage, have a soda, listen to music and watch a movie and a meal on board my flight. I do vote by picking carriers that provide me with the most I can get from my list depending which ones fly to my destination.

    I have sent emails to carriers regarding what I miss. UA replaced one thing that I asked why it wasn’t an option on board any longer. I will not fly USAIR domestically since they offer nothing but a seat….and a cramped one at that!

  • Scott

    Some of this is astonishing.

    Philip: “They work for us: we are not the enemy. We are hearing too many horror stories.”
    No, they don’t work FOR you. They are they to attempt to assist you. They work FOR a corporation that prioritizes shareholders over customers (like most of them). And there are a huge number of simply abusive customers. You may not be the enemy, but many people like you condition them to expect you to be the enemy.

    Mark K:”If they can’t handle dealing with irate customers. or even just inquisitive customers, without becoming irate themselves maybe they should go work in another industry where customer contact is not required. This is what airlines just don’t seem to get – we want to deal with happy, helpful employees.”
    Wow. What ENTITLES customers to be IRATE about anything? And did the person behind the counter who is there to assist you CAUSE your problem? Just because they work for a corporation that did something to you entitles you to be IRATE at them? Grow up. Perhaps IRATE people should not go out in public where they have to deal with others. This is what customers don’t seem to get: Airline employees want to deal with happy, polite customers. You are upset because something went wrong? Fine, that’s understandable. You want to get irate at someone who did not do a thing to you? Well, that makes you an ass.

  • Mary Graham

    I’m so upset with the whole experience, I just quit flying. So have many others. Join us.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Carver – “I find it amusing that the business traveler swears by Southwest.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – -
    I found that amusing as well. I wonder how flights that he\she actual flies each year.

    @ Carver – “Even with a baggage fee, Southwest remains the high priced leader. I don’t understand why we laud Southwest when it simply added the baggage fee into its price and then some extra for good measure”
    - – - – - – - – -
    It is called marketing. For years, Southwest advertised that they had low fares…so the public believes it. Also, their fares are NOT included in any of the fare search engines; therefore, there is a bunch of people won’t compare the fares.

    I like to compare Southwest to Wal-Mart. For years, their ‘tag line’ was “Always the lowest prices” until a few years ago. The reality is that I can find items at other stores cheaper than Wal-Mart.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Mark K – “Yes, last minute fares on Southwest are usually higher than other airlines so picking next Friday to fly results in high fares.”
    - – - – - – - — – -
    Over the years, I had clients and employers that wanted me to fly Southwest because the illusion that they had lower fares. I always send them screen shots showing that the fares on US Airways were\are lower or the same as Southwest. For example, in August 2009, the Southwest fare for PHX to BWI was $ 90 higher than US Airways (this was three weeks out). Another example, in August 2010, the fare for PHX to BOS was $ 140 higher than US Airways (this was four weeks out). In addition, the flight schedules on US Airways were much better and meet the needs of my clients and myself better.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ wpjrnl – “I think I’m among the minority in this survey, I rather look for flexibility, availability on business class, schedule, build milleage to use on vacation rather than price. I think most of business frequent travelers do.”
    - – - – - – - – - – - – - – -
    Please remember that the survey was of this blog readers where it is my guess that the majority of the readers are not business travelers that fly at least 30+ flights a year, road warriors, elite frequent flyers, etc. If this survey was conducted at Flyer Talk, the results will be different.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ Don – “I want flexibility.”
    - – - – - – -
    Then buy a refundable ticket or fly Southwest Airline if they are flying to the destination where you want to go.

    @ Don – “Most airlines besides Southwest abuse their customers who might need to change a schedule. It makes no business sense, it is just a way of snipping off fees from people who become increasingly alienated.”
    - – - – - – - –
    Please understand that Southwest has a point-to-point distribution system…in other words, no hubs. The legacy airlines have a hub and spoke distribution system. The smaller airports are feeding the hubs. If people could change their itineraries at will due to no penality, it probably will cause a ‘clog’ in the hub and spoke system.

  • Arizona Road Warrior

    @ bodega – “I didn’t ask for unbundling.”
    - – - – - – - – — – - – - – - – -
    The public did by wanting the dirt-cheap fares.

    As I have written several times, my first flight was back in 1984 and the price of the fare was $ 350. Using the general inflation price index, the fare should be over $ 600. Today, the fares for this same flight are under $ 200.

    Back in 1984, I was able to check “unlimited” bags; have multiple cans of soda; listen to music; watch a movie; have a hot meal; etc.

    What hurt the legacy airlines were 1) the discounters (i.e. Southwest Airlines) since the discounters are only flying the popular routes; 2) the unions…continue to want more days off, more benefits, more money, etc. and 3) management…not pricing the fares for the routes where there were no discount carrier competing on the route to reflect the actual costs of operating the flight.

    Back in the 1980, it was very enjoyable to fly. Today, it is a ‘job’ or a ‘shore’ to fly.

  • Andrew

    Southwest isn’t always the price “leader” they are the price “pioneer”.

    How do you tell who the pioneers are? They’re the ones with arrows in their chests.

  • Sommer Gentry

    I want to fly without being treated like a common criminal or a prison inmate. I want to fly without strangers gawking at my naked body, without strange hands fondling my sexual organs, without assuming surrender poses, without hearing my medically priveleged information shouted across the terminal, without humbling myself before bullies who threaten passengers and detain them without legal authority to do so.

    It’s true that the Department of Homeland Security decided that all air passengers ought to be mistreated in this degrading manner, so that this can no longer be a discriminating factor between various airlines, and so that people who believe in dignity and decency will go to extremes to avoid flying. However, I think responsibility for security ought to belong to the airlines, and if that commonsense step is ever taken, then I’ll be flying on the airline that doesn’t sexually humiliate its paying customers.

  • Ken W

    I want to be treated like a human being not self-loading cargo.
    I want flight attendants dressed better than the cleaning crew.
    I want to arrive at my seat and find room for my bag.
    I want to be able to buy food aboard, not chemical compounds.
    I want a full seat, not part of another person’s body overlap.
    I want to be able to use my frequent flyer miles.

    Notice a theme here? None of these would cost the airlines much money at all.

  • Monica

    My wish list for airlines is easy. I want non-stop flights, I want no luggage fees, and I want to know the total cost up front. I don’t want to see the fare price, then fees that double the cost of the ticket, especially for services that were once ‘standard’.

    Maybe wider seats would be nice. I’m not overweight, but I’m a woman with real hips. I don’t want them rubbing against the armrests.

  • Joe Farrell

    Aretha had it down – R-E-S-P-E-C-T . . .

  • Joe Farrell

    the interesting thing is that Carver is going to SFO [for the day?] – why would you need a bag fee – therefore Southwest is not the cheapest fare – not by a longshot.

    Southwest has created a culture where people think they have low fares – sometimes they do – sometimes they don’t.

  • Hendy

    All of these carriers are SLAVES to Wall Street. Face it, folks, if they don’t turn a decent profit, the market craters their share. How do you get consistent loyalty by brand? Don’t lie to us. Don’t manipulate the online fare channels. Stop charging us for the very air we breathe. Be nice.

    Southwest does get away with higher fares because of their consistency. Not having to pay draconian fees to the online sales channels helps their margins, too. Not having to deal with the whimsies of international carriage helps them mightily as well.

    We put up with the most awful treatment. I expect the worst and often get it. Once in a while, a random nice trip happens, but that’s a joy these days, whereas in the pre-late 1990′s, it was frequent. FF programs don’t mean anything. Status on a carrier or ‘alliance’ might save you a few bucks that shouldn’t have been charged in the first place. But we put up with it like sheep. Baaaaaaah. And we have very little choice if we’re going to live in a modern traveling world.

  • David Z

    None of these would cost the airlines much money at all.

    How do you know, speaking from a passenger’s point of view?

  • Brooklyn

    Congress should adopt legislation that sets a minimum standard for all airlines that depart from or land in the United States. This standard should include no-fee checked baggage, adequate seat width and leg room, no change fees, onboard meals for flights over 2 hours, compensation for cancelled or delayed flights, and so on. Airlines should then be left free to compete on price and services above that minimum standard. Initially, tickets would be more expensive because the airlines would take it out on the regulators by punishing passengers. But in a year or so, the fares would go back down – maybe not as low as they look on paper today, but low enough that the average passenger – who does need to be able to check a bag – would benefit in the end.

  • Mark K

    @Scott

    There are several things that might cause the customer to get irate. I have never been irate with an airline employee, never had a real reason to be and I know I won’t get anywhere with my issue if I do. But I have seen several instances where customers have. What their reasons were I don’t know.

    Maybe irate was the wrong word. A better word would be distraught, bewildered, at the point of tears. All because of something the airline did and the customer is not getting an answer to a simple question such as “what do I do now?” And as unfair as it is to the individual employees, if you work in any industry where you are the person who deals face-to-face with the customer you are the company to that customer regardless if you had anything to do with the problem or not. Since you are the company you will get dumped on by the customers you are dealing with when things are not going right for the customer.

    I have seen gate agents walk away without a word when a flight delay happens and they don’t want to deal with the rush of customers who want nothing more than to see if there is any chance they will make connections. Maybe the gate agent doesn’t know. Maybe no one knows. But if your solution to an issue is to run away, maybe this isn’t the job for you.

  • Mark K

    @Arizona RW

    I have not flown US Airways in a long time. They don’t go directly where I need to go. Therefore I am unaware of their pricing. However, the places I do fly (IAH FLL DEN SFO SEA AUS and others), SW is normally less expensive on advance purchase tickets than the other airlines leaving from the airport I fly out of. Not always, but often enough. My other choices are CO/UA and Frontier. I don’t check luggage as most of my trips are only for a day or two so the luggage fees don’t impact me. This means I am comparing flight costs only.

    It just depends on where and when you are flying who gets you there for less.

  • Tom

    This standard should include no-fee checked baggage, adequate seat width and leg room, no change fees, onboard meals for flights over 2 hours, compensation for cancelled or delayed flights, and so on.

    Why should I be forced by the government to pay for a meal I don’t want, to pay for checked luggage when I don’t check my luggage, to pay compensation for people who choose to fly out of weather impacted airports when I fly out of sunny airports? I don’t think America is the kind of country where the government takes all our choices away and forces us to buy things we don’t want or need.

  • bodega

    There seems to be a HUGE misunderstanding from many of you on prices for tickets when you go online to shop.

    If Southwest flys in a market where other carriers fly, 99% of the time, all the other carriers will match Southwest if they have a sale. Now WN(Southwest’s code) has done a very good job in marketing themselves, so many people look to them first off for ticket prices. All fares are capacity controlled. For example, there are only ‘x’ amount of seats from SFO to LAX for $29. When those seats are sold out, the next highest fare might be what is next that is available. How far in advance you book your fares can also determine what you will see. There are 7 day advance fares, 14 day advance fares, 21 day advance fares, 30 day advance fares and specials that may throw these advance fares out the window. Day of the week, time of day can also be a rule for a low fare.

    In the GDS and NOWHERE on the internet, can you see actual class inventory, all fares and all fare rules. So when I pull up fares from SFO to LAX, I will see that DL, AS, AA, UA also have the same fare, but that doesn’t mean it will be available, so I have to look at the schedules to see if the class of service is there. You can’t see that so many of you assume one carrier over the other is only offering a low fare, when most do, it just isn’t available for your date(s).

  • Dave

    I agree with Jim Daniel’s comment in the article: I want a fair price, not necessarily the lowest. In fact, I think airline fares are absurdly low.

    When I was working on my MBA in Aviation Management, I did one study on air fares in a particular market (DEN-ATL) that was served by four airlines: one legacy carrier from each hub (UA and DL) and one so-called “low cost” carrier from each hub (FL and F9). Thirty-plus years after Deregulation took effect, the lowest available fare was STILL lower than the fare in April 1976, without adjusting for inflation.

    Note in advance of the following comments: I got said MBA at the worst possible time, so I’m not working in the airline industry. That said…

    What I’d like to see are two fare levels: restricted and unrestricted. It’s nonsense to have 4 seats at price X, 6 more at price Y, 20 more at price Z, etc., when there is absolutely no difference in the product. People who want the cheap fare would get free water on board and pay for everything else: seat reservations, checked baggage, coffee, whatever. People who pay for the unrestricted ticket would get all the same amenities included, along with the ability to change plans without ridiculous change fees (sorry, but it does NOT cost any airline $150 to change a reservation with some advance notice).

    Because I do see both sides of the issue, something else I’d like is for the airlines to adhere to their restrictions. A non-refundable fare should mean it’s non-refundable, like at a sporting or theater event. Of course, that also means the consumer should be able to resell it so someone else can actually make use of it — I don’t mean scalping, I mean resale (which is legal for just about all products under the Doctrine of First Sale, about which I won’t say any more since I’m not a lawyer).

    Enough for now — I wrote a paper on this which won’t fit here!

  • not worried

    @ Sommer Gentry

    I want to fly without strangers gawking at my naked body, without strange hands fondling my sexual organs – - bla bla bla – - – and so that people who believe in dignity and decency will go to extremes to avoid flying.

    So if I fly I must like being fondled and do not believe in dignity and decency? Your anti-love affair with TSA is no secret but it has nothing to do with what to look for in an airline ticket. Wal-mart is having a sale on soap boxes this week. They are on isle 7 next to the ‘high horses’.

    While we are off topic, its a shame about those people that didn’t get to see the superbowl even though they had tickets. Of course they should have used a real travel agent to arrange the tickets. Let this be a lesson for them that they should have purchased travel insurance to cover their investment/trip. Sounds silly, just like some of the things I have seen here.

    I don’t like be fondled but I don’t mind being searched. I want a reliable airline who can get me where I want to go.

  • Jesse

    I am reminded of the SWA commercial where an exec is on trial for extra fees…

    I like SWA’s business model with a few tweaks…Business and First class would be nice, why not. My biggest grief is assigned seating!

  • y_p_w

    Southwest is very competitive with vacation travelers booking well ahead. Their fare specials can be considerably better, and their online reservation system is a lot easier for the average customer to figure out. Everything is broken down into the cost for each way. That’s a lot easier to figure out than some airlines that have fares that differ a lot due to mind-boggling combinations of outbound and inbound flight choices.

    I think they’re also popular with business customers (maybe not the people actually flying, but their employers) who pay full fare via travel agencies. Their full, refundable fares are considerably lower than the equivalent from the legacy carriers with of course the baggage fees included.

  • y_p_w

    Just an aside, but anyone ever fly People Express way back in the day? I was only a kid at the time and rarely flew then. I do remember they generated a lot of buzz, including getting their own terminal at Newark International.

    They nickeled and dimed for everything, but they had some really cheap fares. They pioneered charging baggage fees and for snacks/meals. I heard one could even pay for the ticket on the plane.