It turns out that beating passengers up and dragging them off a flight actually *doesn’t* help an airline’s profitability. Go figure. I never would have guessed that.
A recent study shows that there is definitely a correlation between an airline’s profitability and the return on its stock price. If you treat passengers well, your stock price performs well. You treat customers poorly, your stock price underperforms.
Short term win, long term loss
The study did conclude that while there may be short term gains when an airline makes adjustments that may seem like they will increase revenue, the reality is that they aren’t. People are willing to put up with a lot while flying, given that most people’s number one concern is the price of a ticket. But if you cram them in a cabin with 29″ of pitch, treat them badly, and fee them to death, they might eventually decide to find someone else to meet their air travel needs.
The main takeaway is that airlines that consistently meet customer expectations and provide great service are doing the best from a stock price perspective. Southwest has been profitable for 44 straight years and ranks highly among the customer satisfaction leaders.
United, take note. Don’t beat up your passengers. And don’t break guitars.
This site is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as thepointsguy.com. This may impact how and where links appear on this site. Responses are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers and that compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners and I do not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers and other offers and benefits listed on this page. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more. Other links on this page may also pay me a commission - as always, thanks for your support if you use them
User Generated Content Disclosure: Points With a Crew encourages constructive discussions, comments, and questions. Responses are not provided by or commissioned by any bank advertisers. These responses have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the responsibility of the bank advertiser to respond to comments.
Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Recent Comments