IndiGo Airlines has emerged as the favourites in the domestic airline category this year as well leaving the closest competitor, Jet Airways, behind by a margin of eight per cent vs six per cent in 2013 according to a TripAdvisor survey. TripAdvisor announced the results of its fourth edition of India Air Travel Survey 2014, collected from over 2100 respondents. According to the findings,
Commenting on the findings Nikhil Ganju, country manager, TripAdvisor India said, “Congratulations to Indigo for emerging as India’s favourite airline third year in a row. In terms of overall experience also Indigo has come out on top with 42 per cent respondents voting for it however, if one reads between the lines there is considerable scope of improvement with respect to its in-flight entertainment and in-flight food/beverages services. On the other hand Jet Airways has been voted the chosen one in a number of categories including in-flight entertainment, in-flight food/beverages, cabin crew appearance, cabin crew quality etc. The airline has also emerged as the number one airline whose app has been downloaded on the mobile phones.”
“It is also interesting to see the buzz Air Asia has managed to generate with whopping 73 per cent respondents wanting to fly with the airline in the near future. What remains to be seen is how they build on this anticipation in the time to come” Ganju added.
Overall Consensus
– National carrier Air India continues its legacy as the Least Favourite Domestic Airline for the fourth year in a row
– Air India continues to be perceived as the most unsafe airline by Indian travellers, while IndiGo continues its reign as the safest domestic airline second year in a row
– IndiGo emerges as the clear winner and rated highest on; on-time performance, value for money, landing/ take-off quality, check-in process at the airport, time taken to deliver baggage, in- flight maintenance
– Jet Airways rated best on the following parameters; cabin crew appearance (staff grooming, uniform etc), cabin crew quality, seat comfort/legroom, in-flight entertainment, in-flight food/beverages, internet / mobile connectivity on-board, website experience
– Respondents polled Emirates as the Best International Airline for the fourth year in a row followed by Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa. Emirates has been rated the best by travellers on all parameters this year again making it the undisputed choice for international travel
Seat and Cost Concerns
– About 89 per cent respondents prefer choosing their seat at the time of making the booking or web check-in
– Though having a seat of their choice is important, only 15 per cent respondents said they ‘always’ or ‘often’ chose to pay extra for better airplane seat assignment. Of those, 98 per cent polled they would not be willing to pay for extra leg room for flights under four hours. However, 98 per cent also said they would be willing to pay between INR3,000 to INR4,000 for extra leg room for flights over four hours
– While most Indians are comfortable with bundled/ consolidated fares (45 per cent), 20 per cent respondents said they do not mind paying basic fare and adding items as per their needs. 16 per cent respondents said unbundled fares are great for solo or overnight business travellers with minimum luggage, but not for a family going on a holiday
– Travellers increasingly believe that airlines are not transparent when it comes to costs. Nearly half the respondents (48 per cent) think domestic airlines are not transparent about all the costs including booking a flight for example cost of – meal, extra baggage costs, etc.
Tech Rising
While web-check shows a sharp increase compared to last year however, not many respondents still follow airlines on social media.
– About 85 per cent respondents indicated that they web-check in ‘sometimes’ or ‘always’ which is a big rise from 76 per cent in 2013
– Around 45 per cent respondents polled having an airline app on their mobile phones vs just 23 per cent in 2013. This clearly shows that there is a huge opportunity for commerce and content consumption, and headroom for airlines to push their app to the consumers.
Travel Titbits
– Travellers find people getting up as soon as the aircraft stops (before the seat belt sign goes off) to rush out of the lane (56 per cent) as the most annoying habit followed by passengers who rudely reclined the seat in front thereby leading to an argument/scuffle (51 per cent), and passengers who don’t switch off their phones and have to be asked to do so by the crew (40 per cent).
– Travellers polled ‘casuals’ (83 per cent) as their most preferred type of clothing for an air journey