“Disgruntled airline passengers are nothing new, and the latest snapshot of the U.S. airline industry indicates plenty of cause for frustration.
“Overall operational performance and quality declined once again to the lowest level that it’s ever been,” said Brent Bowen, a professor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Aviation Institute and co-author of the Airline Quality Rating report, released this week.
According to the study, the rate of consumer complaints was up 60 percent last year. Of those complaints, 37 percent involved delays, cancellations and other scheduling deviations. Baggage handling — addressed in 20 percent of complaints — was the second most complained about issue. Eleven percent of complaints involved customer service issues.
“Consumer expectations have never been lower and airlines manage to underperform them nevertheless. That’s been a consistent theme whether you talk about it this year, last year or 10 years ago,” said airline industry consultant Robert Mann, who was not involved with the report.
With complaints on the rise and industry performance on the decline, what can passengers do to up their chances of a smooth journey? CNN asked industry experts for air travel strategies.
When Mann is going to pick someone up at the airport, he looks at FlightStats.com and FlightAware.com to find out about the flight’s historical performance in the most recent period. Travelers booking flights would be wise to consider this data when choosing a flight.
“If it’s a chronic late-departure situation, well, it’s never going to be on time,” Mann said.
Data about flight delays and cancellations also can be found on the Bureau of Transportation Statistics site.”
by Marnie Hunter (via cnn.com)
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