Worst airline service in 7 years?
CHICAGO (AP) - May 20, 2008 An annual survey being released Tuesday by the University of
Michigan found customers giving airlines the worst grades since
2001, with the industry's overall scores dropping for the third
straight year.
United Airlines and US Airways Group Inc., which are in talks to
potentially combine into a single carrier, finished next-to-last
and last, respectively, in the university's American Customer
Satisfaction Index.
Continental Airlines Inc. and US Airways Group Inc. registered
the biggest declines from 2007, both experiencing double-digit
percentage drops.
A familiar bright spot in the results was Southwest Airlines
Co., which led the industry in passenger satisfaction for the 15th
consecutive year.
While unhappiness with airlines is nothing new, this year's
survey produced "really dismal numbers," said Claes Fornell, a
University of Michigan business professor and director of the
research center that compiled the data.
"There's no other industry anywhere that has so many basic
mishaps in terms of not delivering the basics," he said. "They're
supposed to deliver passengers with their luggage to a particular
destination within a certain timeframe, and they frequently fail to
do that."
Asked why scores have worsened so significantly, he said
airlines' management has to be blamed despite some factors beyond
their control such as higher jet-fuel costs and congested airports.
But passengers also are not blameless, according to Fornell.
"They buy primarily on price, and very little else," he said.
"The result of that is very low service and a business model of
cost-cutting that really leaves no one happy, certainly not the
businesses, the shareholders or the flying public."
About 26,000 people responded to the survey during the first
quarter of this year, rating their level of satisfaction as
customers of companies in a variety of industries, including
airlines. An American Customer Satisfaction Index, on a scale of 1
to 100, was created based on the responses to questions about
overall satisfaction, intention to be a repeat customer and
perception of quality, value and expectations.
The index for the airline industry as a whole fell to 62 from 63
last year, barely above its historical low of 61 in 2001. Southwest
led the way with an index of 79, up from 76 last year.
"We're always excited and thrilled that we can offer some of
the best customer service in the industry," Southwest spokeswoman
Christi Day said.
After Southwest came a huge drop in customer satisfaction, with
scores of 62 at AMR Corp.'s American Airlines and Continental.
Delta Air Lines Inc. scored 60, and Northwest Airlines Corp.
slipped to 57 from 61 in 2007. US Airways' score dropped to 54 from
61 a year ago, taking over the bottom spot from United, whose score
held at 56.
Tempe, Ariz.-based, US Airways acknowledged its need to improve.
"While we still have work to do, we're confident that the
investments we're making in reliability, convenience and appearance
are making a positive impact," spokesman Morgan Durrant said. He
noted that the carrier had the best on-time performance of the 10
largest airlines in first-quarter statistics compiled by the U.S.
Department of Transportation.
A spokeswoman for Chicago-based United, Robin Urbanski, said the
carrier also recognized it has more work to do and is "working
hard to fix the basics and provide a more consistent level of
service."
Fornell said it is worrisome that the four big airlines looking
to consolidate - Delta with Northwest, as agreed to last month, and
United and US Airways - are at the bottom of the industry in
customer satisfaction.
"When it comes to mergers, combining two negatives doesn't make
a positive," he said.