Most traveler comments (yes, sometimes customers are there to offer a compliment) are routine travel issues: delays, lost items, or cancellations.
The time it takes for airlines to respond varies, but some passengers get a response in less than five minutes, according to a new study by Conversocial, a customer service consulting firm.
JetBlue received the highest marks among North American airlines for its response speed, taking an average four minutes and 50 seconds to reply to passengers on Twitter. United came in last at one hour and 34 minutes, far lower than the average of about 20 minutes. The airline had more social media mentions per hour than other North American airlines, the study said.
"We recognize that oftentimes social media is the most convenient way for customers to interact with us and we are continuing to work hard on a daily basis to improve our response time," a spokeswoman said, adding that the airline plans to increase its social media staffing team by more than 150 percent by the end of March.
Among European and Middle Eastern airlines, Finnair took the longest to respond to Twitter mentions: more than five and a half hours, the study said. The Helsinki-based airline wasn't immediately available for comment. Germany's Lufthansa had the fastest response time at 9 minutes and 15 seconds.