How pleasant is your flying experience?
Nowadays it has become more and more difficult to enjoy a simple flying experience. And this is due to the fact that not only the huge number of people using this means of transportation makes it more difficult to bear, but also due to the fact that airlines have an outstanding number of fees. In a ranking system used by the American Customer Satisfaction Index, American Airlines received a not so good score: only 69 out of 100 points available.
According to an article by Justin Bachman, posted on Bloomberg Businessweek, the top four airlines in the U.S. failed to reach or surpass a score of 90. Therefore, the top 4 airlines received the following scores for customer service:
- JetBlue Airways (JBLU) – 83
- Southwest (LUV) – 81
- Delta (DAL) – 68
- United (UAL) – 62
The reason why American Airlines rank so low in these lists is due to a certain lack of competition, according to Claes Fornell, professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business. It is perhaps a lack of willingness to top the list by improving customer service. In order to increase customer satisfaction, airlines must work on reducing flight delays, on the services provided during flights like serving food and beverages, and also on providing services like access to the Internet and improving the comfort of the passenger.
Worldwide, the first five airlines are Qatar Airways, Asiana Airlines and Singapore Airlines, neither of them an American airline. As a matter of fact, in the top 20 airlines in 2012 only one comes from the American continent, but does not belong to the state and that is Air Canada. The information is taken from The World Airline Awards, a website where we may find rankings according to leisure, low-cost, airport services, cabin cleanliness and also regional rankings. In order to go up the list and reach a dignifying position, American Airlines must work on improving the aspects mentioned above.
References:
- Bachman, J. (2013), Unsatisfying skies: Passengers still dislike airlines
- World Airline Awards (2013), The world’s top airlines
Tags: Performance in USA, Performance Measurement, Transportation performance
