The Most Loved and Hated Airlines — According to Twitter

Yahoo Travel
Updated
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Twitter users love Virgin America (Photo: AP)

Virgin America is tops on Twitter, while United Airlines is hash-tagged #Loser. That’s according to a new study that measures the social media popularity, or lack thereof, of major U.S. carriers.

Tech research firm Luminoso reportedly analyzed more than 150,000 tweets mentioning five U.S.-based carriers: United, Delta, JetBlue, Virgin America and American. Using a text algorithm that can understand language as well as context, Luminoso was able to rank which airlines had the most positive and negative reactions on Twitter.

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United Airlines doesn’t get a lot of Twitter love (Photo: AP)

Virgin America had the most positive tweets overall, ranking first place in five of eight categories (Customer Service, Delays/Cancellations, Luggage, Security, and Charges/Fees) and taking second place in another (Seating). JetBlue was in second place overall, followed by Delta and American. United was the airline that got the least Twitter love.

Southwest Airlines wasn’t included in the study.

The results come as no surprise. On the two occasions Yahoo Travel compiled the meanest tweets about airlines, complaints about Virgin America and JetBlue were consistently the hardest to find, whereas bad tweets about United were… slightly easier to find.

Related: 20 Nastiest Things People Have Tweeted to Airlines, Part I

Related: 20 Nastiest Things People Have Tweeted to Airlines, Part II

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