American Airlines is Brand of the Year According to Harris Poll
American Airlines is enjoying a year full of accolades. In January, American was named Airline of the Year by Air Transport World. ATW named American, Airline of the Year based on the airline’s “practically flawless” integration of US Airways into American’s operations.
American Airlines was recently recognized by the Human Rights Campaign as one of the best places to work and received a perfect Corporate Equality Index (EQI) score.
Today, American Airlines received yet another award this time for the American Airlines brand. According to a Harris Poll, the American Airlines brand is the brand of the year among “Full-Service Airlines.”
According to their website, Harris Poll uses an “academically vetted brand equity model with elements like familiarity, quality, and consideration, brands create powerful connections with consumers.”
Some Passengers Would Say Otherwise
American Airlines has had a great year in terms of awards and recognitions and it’s only April. However, the experiences many passengers have had this year would say otherwise. From lesser quality catering to a devalued frequent flyer program, even loyal American Airlines flyers are beginning to question the airline’s future.
Gary Leff of View from the Wing recently wrote a post about the downfall of the American Airlines AAdvantage program. Additionally, many frequent flyers have noted the poor quality of American’s meal services in recent months. One Mile at a Time recently wrote about his experience with American’s domestic catering.
However, American’s awards and recognitions are based heavily on operational results, not passenger experience. Still, in recent years, American Airlines has been plagued by delays and cancellations, especially among their regional carriers.
Overall
It’s interesting to see American Airlines take yet another award. Many flyers were surprised to see Air Transport World award American Airlines with Airline of the Year. With flyers reporting lesser quality service and a devalued frequent flyer program, some flyers have begun to turn away American. Albeit, roughly every award American has received is based on operational performance and is influenced very little by the passenger experience.
What do you think about American Airlines being recognized as Brand of the Year?
American used to have a very nice product and good frequent flyer program. As United and Delta have raced to beat each other to the bottom, AA has remained on small notch above them. Not ‘quite’ as bad and just a little better. But overall, everything with the product and program has taken a massive downfall. If you’re flying on a newer AA plane or one that has been retrofitted, it’s a rather nice product. The seats of course are very cramped, but a tad bit less than UA (UA has 30 pitch, AA, has 31). The inflight entertainment is by far one of the best out there and has an extensive l library (even for domestic flights). Power at every seat is great as is the wifi. As big problem is the consistency. All of what I typed here goes away if you’re on a US Airways plane. You get nothing. No power, no entertainment, no wifi…zilch.
The food in first is generally ok, but only rarely something to write home about. The coach service is much much less. Food options are definitely poor at best. Assuming there actually “is” anything as they often put one or two sandwiches it seems. By row 12 they are gone. And they’re not good either. On South America flights, a tiny cold sandwich or a small salad is considered “dinner”. LATAM offers a full hot meal as dinner.
The Advantage program is another huge disappointment. Again, it used to be great. Now it’s just a littl bit better than the others which have worked tirelessly to destroy the programs. As someone who was flying AA weekly up until very recently, it feels as though the punishment continues towards the frequent flyers. They should be cultivating their best customers, not continuously punishing them every chance they get.
I still like them overall and feel that they are a slightly better choice than the others. I guess they really are the best out there, but considering how very very low the bar is, I wouldn’t celebrate it too much.
“Harris Poll uses an “academically vetted brand equity model with elements like familiarity, quality, and consideration, brands create powerful connections with consumers.”
The quality of a poll is directly related to the quality of the sample us for the poll. They obviously chose people who were sympathetic to AA. I can’t publish what I think of AA.