Airlines struggle with customer satisfaction; late departures and arrivals, lost baggage, and overbooking are chronic headaches for fliers. Budget airlines, offering lower fares for a no-frills flight experience, especially suffer from low customer satisfaction.
Spirit Airlines is one such company seeking to improve the flying experience. It announced plans today to install Wi-Fi on all of its planes by summer of 2019; 97 percent of flight routes will be covered by satellite-based internet connections.
In partnership with the French aerospace company Thales, Spirit will offer high-speed web browsing and streaming options starting at $6.50.
President and CFO Ted Christie said Spirit is taking on a multi-faceted approach to improving its service.
“Part of what we’re announcing today in addition to the onboard experience with regard to Wi-Fi is a broader initiative to invest in the guest," he said. "Spirit has clearly made appropriate investments in making sure that the airline runs professionally and on time, it delivers its bags, we believe we deliver real value.”
Spirit ranked last place in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Report for the past four years.
