It's embarrasing to be associated with this industry...

[Jimmy C. Corn]

Airline quality survey finds more traveler complaints

By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press 4/6/08

WASHINGTON | Late flights and lost bags, to say nothing of higher fares, are making air travelers grumpy, an annual survey of airline quality says.The industry posted declines last year in every area of the Airline Quality Rating, amid rising fuel prices, safety problems and bankruptcy filings that shut down three carriers last week alone.

The biggest change was in the rate of consumer complaints, up 60 percent overall. The rate more than doubled at US Airways and Comair, and rose for 15 of the 16 airlines included in the study. The exception was Mesa Airlines.

On-time arrivals dropped for the fifth straight year, with more than one-quarter of all flights late, according to the survey. The rates of passengers bumped from overbooked flights and bags lost, stolen or damaged also jumped in 2007.
“The trend is bad, and it doesn’t look like it gets any better,” said Dean Headley, an associate professor at Wichita State University and co-author of the study being released today.
The survey results mesh with the spate of problems that have beset U.S. carriers, starting with surging fuel costs, Headley said.

ATA, Aloha Airlines and Skybus stopped flying last week because of financial pressures. Major airlines have slashed jobs and passenger amenities while adding fees for second bags, traveling with pets and booking tickets by phone.
It is not surprising that people responded to higher prices and more frequent delays by complaining more, Headley said.

Six airlines — Frontier, Northwest, SkyWest, Southwest, United and US Airways — showed declines in every area in the survey, although Southwest still had the best on-time arrival mark at 80.1 percent.

Southwest also had the lowest rate of consumer complaints, 0.26 per 100,000 passengers. Still, the airline has not been immune from problems. It is fighting a record $10.2 million fine from the Federal Aviation Administration for continuing to fly dozens of Boeing 737s that hadn’t been inspected for cracks in their fuselages.

American, Delta and United recently canceled flights to perform unscheduled inspections of certain aircraft, and US Airways found problems on some Boeing 757s after a wing part on one of its planes fell off during a flight.

The other airlines in the survey were AirTran, Alaska, American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast, Continental, JetBlue and Mesa.

Among the study’s conclusions:
•The rate of consumer complaints about Mesa dropped by one-third, and the airline also showed improvement in its rates of bumping passengers and mishandling bags.
•AirTran had the best baggage handling rate, at 4.06 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers.

 

[luckytohaveajob]

SWA has reduced a domestic airline seat to that of a commodity.

SWA threw customer service out with the bathwater 36 years ago, everyone else just was forced to follow.

Thank a corndog!

 

[Chubaka]

Just wait until we are all working for Mesa.

 

[LandGreen]

SWA has reduced a domestic airline seat to that of a commodity.

SWA threw customer service out with the bathwater 36 years ago, everyone else just was forced to follow.

Thank a corndog!

you can thank airline deregulation for the problems within the industry now. no pricing power left, airlines are forced to cut to the bone because pax feel they "deserve" a ticket across the US for less than it cost to take a cab to manhattan.

two options i see:

re regulate
watch the slow march of airlines as they liquidate. eventually pricing power may come back

 

[jmreii]

you can thank airline deregulation for the problems within the industry now. no pricing power left, airlines are forced to cut to the bone because pax feel they "deserve" a ticket across the US for less than it cost to take a cab to manhattan.

two options i see:

re regulate
watch the slow march of airlines as they liquidate. eventually pricing power may come back

you will never see re-regulation. the airlines need to look in the mirror and dig deep or do not come out in the second half.

 

[banger]

I've all ways been a "less government is better guy" and that whenever big brother gets involved it adds more layers more cost less value. But that being said there are some industries that require it. The military, Utilities etc... more and more I see that a nations air carriers need to be controlled for the good of that nation. Not to compare air travel to Amtrak but left to free market factors I think Amtrak would collapse or become so expensive it would not work. This would cause more drivers and increase the flow of petro dollars overseas. I think re-regulation might actually be the best idea for this industry.

 

[Prog 2/2]

you will never see re-regulation. the airlines need to look in the mirror and dig deep or do not come out in the second half.

Unfortunately, that deep digging usually takes place in my pocket.

Customers have finally gotten the transportation system that they are willing to pay for.

They can enjoy it without any further subsidies from employees.

Sucks, but there it is.

 

[PanPan]

http://aqr.aero/pressreleases/2008pressrelease.htm


AIR TRAN TAKES TOP AQR SPOT, INDUSTRY SCORE FALLS TO NEW LOW

Washington D.C. – Air Tran has taken the top spot in the 18th annual national Airline Quality Ratings (AQR) study. Last year, Air Tran ranked third in the AQR. Following Air Tran in the top five of the AQR were Jet Blue, Southwest, Northwest and Frontier.
As far as an overall rating for the industry, this is the worst AQR score ever, according to the AQR researchers. The second worst was for calendar year 2000. There are similarities between 2000 and 2007, specifically:

-During both 2000 and 2007 there was talk of the United States heading into a recession;
-The airlines were making money after a nonprofitable period; and
-Demand for air travel was strong.

The AQR is a summary of month-by-month quality ratings for the largest domestic U.S. airlines operating during 2007. Co-researchers Brent Bowen, professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) Aviation Institute/School of Public Administration, and Dean Headley, associate professor and chair of marketing at Wichita State University (WSU), used 15 elements important to consumers when judging the quality of airline service.

Air Tran gained ground in the industry and in the ratings because of superior baggage handling. Taken as an entire industry, the airlines declined in all areas of performance, Bowen said. “I don’t expect to see better airline performance in the near future. There’s no incentive,” Headley said. “The airlines are losing money. Fuel prices are high. They’re cutting back on services. They’re cutting back on people. Everything it takes to run an airline is more expensive, and the airlines want less of that expense.”

Sixteen airlines were studied for the 2008 ratings report. The Airline Report Card is a unique figure that shows each airlines' individual rating since the AQR began 18 years ago. This visual aid offers invaluable historical reporting opportunities, Bowen said. It is available on-line at aqr.aero

Researchers at the UNO Aviation Institute and the W. Frank Barton School of Business at WSU conduct the ratings annually. The AQR, as an industry standard, provides consumers and industry watchers a means to compare quality among airlines using objective performance-based data. It is a joint research project funded as part of faculty research activities at UNO and WSU.

"With the U.S. airline industry at rock-bottom in terms of overall performance, greater accountability is necessary. It is very difficult for air travel consumers to have a collective voice,” Bowen said. “The AQR.aero research team is providing new mechanisms for the everyday passenger to be heard.”

The air traveler can make a difference through participating in the aqr.aero research survey, the first of several new tools to aid the traveling public. Just go to aqr.aero and click on the ‘survey’ link. By participating, travelers will have access to the Web site’s future airline service problem reporting feature. This will also help researchers gather valuable data that may help slow the substantial decline in airline service performance that they reported this year.

The AQR scores for the largest airlines for 2007 resulted in the following ranking:
1. Air Tran
2. Jet Blue
3. Southwest
4. Northwest
5. Frontier
6. Continental
7. Alaska
8. United
9. American
10. Delta
11. US Airways
12. Mesa
13. SkyWest
14. Comair
15. American Eagle
16. Atlantic Southeast

Criteria included in the AQR are screened to meet two basic elements: They must be readily obtainable from published data sources for each airline, and they must be important to consumers regarding airline quality. The resulting criteria include areas such as baggage handling, customer complaints, denied boardings and on-time arrivals.

Other major industry findings in this year’s research study include:

Only four of the 16 airlines improved their AQR score. They were Air Tran, American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast and Mesa. The most improved airline was Mesa; it improved in three of the four categories – denied boardings, mishandled bags and customer complaints. Its on-time performance was similar to last year.

The airline that declined the most in performance was US Airways.

 

[737 Pylt]

"The airline that declined the most in performance was US Airways."

Big surprise here!

737

 

[Midnight Flyer]

you can thank airline deregulation for the problems within the industry now. no pricing power left, airlines are forced to cut to the bone because pax feel they "deserve" a ticket across the US for less than it cost to take a cab to manhattan.

two options i see:

re regulate
watch the slow march of airlines as they liquidate. eventually pricing power may come back

I agree. The airline mgmt beancounters need to stop being frightened to pass the fuel costs on to the passengers in the form of increased ticket prices. simple.
Passengers will always use air travel, regardless of how expensive it is. I can remember first class tickets back in the very late 80's being well over a thousand dollars from ATL to LAX. And that was in 1980's money.
Look at us now; Gas prices almost $3.50 per gallon yet us Americans still love to drive our big SUV's.
Raise ticket prices, passengers will still fly!!

 

[FlickerFade]

Shouldn't the contraction of LCC's and seat capacity be good for the industry then?
We can pass on costs to the customers?

 

[JudgeSmails218]

I get tired of hearing people moan about not getting their bags; I think the majority of the time they do it to themselves. If you're giving yourself only 20 minutes to make a connection at a major hub airport, COMMON SENSE should dictate that it MIGHT be close on getting your bag on the connecting flight. People seem to think somebody waves a majic wand and their bags just appear on the connecting flight!