{"id":"us-airline-ai-visibility-index-2026-q3","name":"U.S. Airline AI Visibility Index","edition":"2026 Q3 release","protocolVersion":"1.0.3","updatedAt":"2026-07-27","methodClarifications":[{"version":"1.0.1","date":"2026-07-27","change":"Specified the stability calculation and the blinded automated coding workflow after fieldwork and before any response was classified.","impact":"The clarification does not change the headline score, prompts, brands, engines, response collection, or raw observations."},{"version":"1.0.2","date":"2026-07-27","change":"Replaced the planned OpenRouter secondary coder with a blinded workspace-local GPT-5 review after environment policy blocked the research-data transfer. GPT-5 classified all 48 sampled observations without access to the primary labels.","impact":"The amendment changes only the identity and execution environment of the secondary coder. It does not change the sample, primary codes, score, prompts, brands, engines, fieldwork, or raw observations."},{"version":"1.0.3","date":"2026-07-27","change":"At the owner’s request, GPT-5 adjudicated the 14 observations where the primary and secondary labels disagreed. This is disclosed AI adjudication rather than human review.","impact":"The adjudication can change final recommendation and citation-support counts relative to the primary code. It does not change the brands, prompts, engines, formula, fieldwork, raw answers, frozen sample, or reported pre-adjudication agreement."}],"status":"published","statusLabel":"Results published · AI-adjudicated","publishedAt":"2026-07-27","fieldworkWindow":"2026-07-27T12:37:42.212Z to 2026-07-27T13:06:04.990Z","market":"United States","category":"Consumer-facing U.S. airline brands","summary":"A repeatable benchmark of which airline brands AI answer engines recommend for common domestic-travel decisions.","source":{"name":"U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, T-100 passenger data","url":"https://data.bts.gov/stories/s/Passengers/itj6-vfiw/","retrievedAt":"2026-07-27"},"selectionRule":"Include the ten highest-volume consumer-facing U.S. airline brands in calendar-year 2025 T-100 passenger data after excluding regional operators that do not sell itineraries under their own public brand.","exclusions":["Regional carriers operating primarily under another airline’s brand","Cargo-only and charter-only operators","Brands outside the frozen ten-brand comparison set"],"brands":[{"name":"Southwest Airlines","slug":"southwest-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"WN","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/southwest-airlines.svg"},{"name":"American Airlines","slug":"american-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"AA","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/american-airlines.svg"},{"name":"Delta Air Lines","slug":"delta-air-lines","sourceCarrierCode":"DL","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/delta-air-lines.svg"},{"name":"United Airlines","slug":"united-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"UA","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/united-airlines.svg"},{"name":"Alaska Airlines","slug":"alaska-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"AS","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/alaska-airlines.svg"},{"name":"JetBlue Airways","slug":"jetblue-airways","sourceCarrierCode":"B6","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/jetblue-airways.svg"},{"name":"Frontier Airlines","slug":"frontier-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"F9","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/frontier-airlines.svg"},{"name":"Spirit Airlines","slug":"spirit-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"NK","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/spirit-airlines.svg"},{"name":"Allegiant Air","slug":"allegiant-air","sourceCarrierCode":"G4","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/allegiant-air.svg"},{"name":"Hawaiian Airlines","slug":"hawaiian-airlines","sourceCarrierCode":"HA","logoPath":"/images/research/airlines/hawaiian-airlines.svg"}],"engines":[{"name":"ChatGPT","provider":"OpenAI","logoPath":"/images/platforms/chatgpt-logo.svg","collectionRule":"Record the provider-visible product or model label, retrieval state, response or conversation identifier when exposed, and timestamp."},{"name":"Claude","provider":"Anthropic","logoPath":"/images/platforms/anthropic-claude-logo.svg","collectionRule":"Record the provider-visible product or model label, retrieval state, response or conversation identifier when exposed, and timestamp."},{"name":"Gemini","provider":"Google","logoPath":"/images/platforms/google-gemini-logo.svg","collectionRule":"Record the provider-visible product or model label, grounding state, response or conversation identifier when exposed, and timestamp."},{"name":"Perplexity","provider":"Perplexity AI","logoPath":"/images/platforms/perplexity-logo.svg","collectionRule":"Record the provider-visible product or model label, search state, response or conversation identifier when exposed, and timestamp."}],"promptGroups":[{"id":"network-and-trip-fit","label":"Network and trip fit","prompts":[{"id":"network-01","text":"Which U.S. airlines should I compare for a cross-country trip?"},{"id":"network-02","text":"Which U.S. airline has a strong route network for West Coast travelers?"},{"id":"network-03","text":"Which U.S. airline has a strong route network for East Coast travelers?"},{"id":"network-04","text":"Which U.S. airline should I compare for flights to Hawaii?"},{"id":"network-05","text":"Which airline should I compare for flights between California and New York?"}]},{"id":"price-and-flexibility","label":"Price and flexibility","prompts":[{"id":"value-01","text":"Which airline should I consider for a low-cost domestic trip after fees are included?"},{"id":"value-02","text":"Which U.S. airline is a good choice for travelers who want free checked bags?"},{"id":"value-03","text":"Which airline is a good choice for a last-minute domestic booking?"},{"id":"value-04","text":"Which U.S. airline is a good choice for travelers who want flexible ticket changes?"},{"id":"value-05","text":"Which airlines offer good value for an occasional domestic traveler?"}]},{"id":"traveler-experience","label":"Traveler experience","prompts":[{"id":"experience-01","text":"Which U.S. airline is best for a family traveling with checked bags?"},{"id":"experience-02","text":"Which airline is a good choice for travelers who value schedule reliability?"},{"id":"experience-03","text":"Which airline is a good choice for travelers who value customer service?"},{"id":"experience-04","text":"Which airline is a good choice for travelers who prefer more legroom in economy?"},{"id":"experience-05","text":"Which U.S. airline is a good choice for travelers with accessibility needs?"}]},{"id":"loyalty-and-business","label":"Loyalty and business travel","prompts":[{"id":"loyalty-01","text":"Which airline is a good choice for frequent business travel within the United States?"},{"id":"loyalty-02","text":"Which U.S. airline loyalty program is most useful for occasional travelers?"},{"id":"loyalty-03","text":"Which airline loyalty program is most useful for frequent domestic travelers?"},{"id":"loyalty-04","text":"Which airline offers a good domestic premium-cabin experience?"},{"id":"loyalty-05","text":"Which airlines should a small business compare for frequent employee travel?"}]}],"runsPerPrompt":3,"collectionRule":"Run every frozen prompt three times on every included engine using fresh, non-personalized sessions. Give every engine and every prompt equal weight. Preserve the raw answer, citations, provider-visible product or model label, retrieval state, timestamp, and coding record.","observationSchema":{"version":"1.0.0","requiredFields":["observationId","releaseId","promptGroupId","promptId","promptText","engine","provider","modelIdentifier","retrievalSetting","runNumber","startedAt","completedAt","responseStatus","responseIdentifier","rawResponse","citations","codingStatus","recommendations","firstChoice","coderId","codedAt","codingNotes"],"nullableFields":["modelIdentifier","retrievalSetting","responseIdentifier","recommendations","firstChoice","coderId","codedAt","codingNotes"]},"scoring":{"formula":"Index score = (0.70 × recommendation share) + (0.30 × first-choice share)","recommendationWeight":0.7,"firstChoiceWeight":0.3,"aggregationRule":"Average the three runs within each prompt-engine pair, then average prompt-engine pairs with equal weight. Report engine-level results alongside the combined score.","stabilityRule":"For each brand and prompt-engine pair, calculate pairwise agreement across the three runs on whether the brand was recommended. Average those agreement values across all prompt-engine pairs. Stability does not affect the index score.","uncertaintyRule":"Report 95% prompt-level bootstrap intervals using 10,000 resamples. Treat overlapping intervals as statistically unresolved rather than declaring a definitive winner."},"codingProtocol":{"primaryCoder":"google/gemini-3.1-flash-lite","secondaryCoder":"GPT-5 (workspace-local blinded review)","doubleCodeShare":0.2,"sampleRule":"Select exactly 48 observations using a deterministic hash-stratified sample: 12 observations from each answer engine.","independenceRule":"The secondary GPT-5 review received the frozen question, raw answer, citation annotations, brand dictionary, and classification rules without access to the primary code.","disagreementRule":"Place every recommendation, first-choice, or citation-support disagreement in a review queue. For this edition, the owner delegated the 14 queued observations to disclosed GPT-5 adjudication; the original labels, final decisions, rationales, and pre-adjudication agreement are retained."},"classificationRules":["Recommendation: the answer explicitly presents the brand as a suitable choice or shortlist candidate for the buyer’s question.","First choice: the brand is the first explicit positive recommendation, not merely the first brand mentioned in background or a disclaimer.","Mention only: the brand appears for comparison, criticism, or context without an affirmative recommendation; it does not receive recommendation credit.","Citation support: a linked source directly supports the claim attached to the brand. Citation share is reported separately and does not change the index score.","Missing response: one identical retry is allowed for a provider error or refusal. Any remaining missing observation is disclosed and excluded only from that engine’s denominator."],"qualityControls":["Freeze the brand set, prompts, formula, coding rules, and engine inclusion rules before fieldwork.","Store raw responses and provider-visible metadata before classification. Use null where the product does not expose a model, retrieval, response, or conversation identifier.","Double-code at least 20% of responses and publish the agreement rate.","Keep a decision log for every resolved coding disagreement.","Publish corrected releases with a version number and change log; never silently replace results."],"limitations":["The benchmark is a dated observation of selected answer engines, not a permanent judgment about an airline.","AI responses can change because of model updates, retrieval changes, current events, location, and provider experimentation.","The prompt set represents common comparison contexts but not every traveler, route, accessibility requirement, or fare condition.","Recommendation frequency does not establish service quality, safety, value, or suitability for an individual trip.","The 14 disagreement cases were adjudicated by GPT-5 rather than a human reviewer. This reduces reviewer independence and should be considered when interpreting close results.","The index is independent editorial research by Executive Intelligence and is not financial, travel, or purchasing advice."],"protocolDownloadPath":"/research/ai-visibility-index/2026-q3-protocol.json","results":[{"rank":1,"brand":"Delta Air 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