Airlines are known for many things, but customer service isn't one of them. But maybe that's about to change.
Between July and September, 69% of customer queries posted on the Facebook pages of major airlines worldwide were answered by those airlines, according to social media analytics company Socialbakers.
That compares favourably against an industry-wide average of addressing only 48% of customer comments. For example, automotive companies only responded to 26% of customer comments on Facebook pages on average.
At long last, airlines are leaders in a particular type of customer service: social media.
In other words, the airlines are Facebook's biggest fan, at least according to Socialbakers' measurement of how many user questions posted on company Facebook walls ("fan pages") were responded to by representatives.
The airline that was the most responsive of the bunch is expected to be revealed at an event sponsored by Socialbakers this evening East Coast time.
In the meantime, Socialbakers has produced an infographic to provide context on the rapid growth in airline responsiveness to customer queries.