[Anonymous]

[transtraxman]

This article appeared in the LA Times 28th March last.

“High-income fliers are unhappier with airlines, survey says”

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-travel-briefcase-20110328,0,7410213.story

Even though the focus is on Californians I thought it worthwhile mentioning since there has been a lot of criticism of BA recently on BT.

Well-heeled frequent fliers(and others) could maybe say whether they agree or not with the comments made in the article.

[wingcommander]

“High-income”? for the airlines, or high-earners. They have high expectations regardless of whether they are spending the money or their employers …

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

I agree with the sentiments in the article.

[transtraxman]

wingcommander
The article uses two phrases which clarify your point…

“Travelers from high-earning households..”

“Business travelers and affluent fliers said they didn’t feel they were getting their money’s worth.”

I started the post to see
(a) your reactions to the article and
(b) to see how much the service on all (or at least the mostly interesting)airlines can be satisfactory or not. How much of the criticism is subjective?
To give just one example I have seen on different BT posts recently — “the food on airline XXX is interesting and varied” while others say “the food is too asian”(on the same airline).

I wish BA, Virgin and BMI well but as this site is in English is there not a tendency to slight the British airlines when Air France-KLM and the Lufthansa group (without mentioning the Americas or Asia or the MEB3) are just as good/bad?

Discuss

[pomerol]

wingcommander

I note you use the psuedenim of a senior rank in the RAF, are you qualified to do so.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

How do you know (a) it is a military rank and (b) it is from the RAF?

[NTarrant]

An interesting article Transtraxman and thanks for bringing it to our attention. There is a considerable amount of truth in the article. There is also the angle of perceptions of those that have just become business travellers who would not have benefited from the earlier days before small touches were removed.

In all our postings there is a considerable amount of subjectivity, just like Tripadvisor for hotels. There will of course be some objectivity in some postings.

There was some research done back in the 1990’s where by rail commuters were saying how the service was poor as opposed to irregular users said it was good. It goes back to the point I made on another post in that if one has to do something for a living and does not really enjoy that part of the job, they will be more critical than those that enjoy it.

[transtraxman]

This has been lifted from the topic

“LHR – HKG – I will never fly BA again”

Thanks to “nevereconomy” – 03/04/2011 19:05 GMT

“Some interesting observations in this thread, which made me think about my own praise and complaints. Most of those of us who post regularly are the fortunate few who travel in premium cabins and have in many cases done this for more years than we care to remember. We are therefore experienced, or perhaps more correctly, jaded. We have our favorites, we are opinionated and very quick to criticize the slightest transgression by airline crew or our fellow travellers. True,our seats cost more, but often we did not pay for them ourselves.
I will try to be more objective and realistic in my expectations for future posts, but cannot promise too much, as I, like most of my fellow regulars, have become totally spoiled by my travelling experiences and probably nothing will ever be good enough.”

This is just the sort of comment I am looking for.

Any more?

[alwaysreadytofly]

in addition to flying more than 20 sectors a year up front, which is nothign if i see other peoples posts and time spent in the air, i do feel as a consumer we have the right to comment when we see poor service, poor procut offerings, promises which are not met in food, drink, seat, tv etc..

in a restaurant or bar, which i happen to own, the same rules apply. my customers expect consistency in food quality, availability, price, service. if they don’t get it they tell me in either words or actions (they don’t return)

To my mind, airlines, restaurants, bars, hotels spa’s are all together in this and indeed, be it a $200 USD meal in NYC, a $5000 flight in J class or a $500 spa day package….we want what we pay for.,

[continentalclub]

In 1993, the average price of an air ticket from all US airports was USD302.

Since then, inflation has seen general prices in the US rise by 50.6%.

In Q3 of 2010, the average price of an air ticket from all US airports was USD340, an increase of just 12.6%.

http://www.transtats.bts.gov/AverageFare/Default.aspx

Even adjusted for inflation, in 1993 the price of a barrel of oil was USD25.28.

The average for 2010 was USD71.57, equating to a rise of 183.1%.

Today’s price is a little over USD108.

Of course, the average air fare figures may be skewed by route variations (mostly shorthaul domestic in the US), propensity to travel, security issues etc., but the sample size is so enormous that it’s probably a good barometer and representative of the global situation.

In 1993, only one commercial airline had a flat bed product in any class. In 2010, non-lieflat offerings in even Business Class had become a rarity. In 1993, lounges were rare and light on facilities. Arrivals lounges did not exist. AVOD had not been invented.

Whilst there is no excuse for poor customer service, nor for lax safety practices, nor even for a lack of basic cleanliness, the facts are fairly clear that we are simply not paying what we used to for air travel, and yet we are in very many cases enjoying products and services that could only be dreamt of a few years ago.

Air travel may be expensive, but it’s nowhere near as expensive as it once was, and yet airline margins have barely changed.

Personally, I would far rather be flying in 2011 than 1993.

[transtraxman]

An interesting piece appeared here….

http://articles.philly.com/2011-05-11/business/29532634_1_seat-comfort-cabin-cleanliness-cabin-crew

…ranking US airlines in different ways according to the survey used.

…to quote two lines at the end of the article.

“The proliferation of fees at, or after, check-in by many carriers contributed to passengers’ low opinions of flying, and even their decisions about whether to fly”

“What we found is that paying fewer additional fees generally translates into a passenger having higher overall satisfaction with an airline,”

Would you agree?

[transtraxman]

I have just found these which could prove interesting.

“Travelers rate what’s good, bad about airlines in Consumer Reports survey” (in the USA)

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=15&articleid=20110529_15_E1_CUTLIN542044&allcom=1

and

“Consumer Reports Rates Top Airlines, Car Rental Companies”

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2011/05/30/consumer-reports-rates-top-airlines-car-rental-companies/

[transtraxman]

This is the latest article about the American Customer Satisfaction Index in which US airlines do not come out very well.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/21/us-airlines-dissatisfaction-idUSTRE75K4VK20110621

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