Study Cites Decline in Air Service : Transportation: Airline quality took a nose-dive in 1992, according to the annual report. Among the factors in decline: older fleets and more delays.
The quality of airline service deteriorated last year as passengers complained about older planes, crowded cabins and flight delays, according to a survey released Monday.
Struggling under billions of dollars’ worth of losses, the nation’s airlines provided poorer service in 1992, leading to a decline in passenger satisfaction, said the authors of the Airline Quality Report, which ranked American Airlines as providing the best level of service last year.
“The system is restrictive. The people are complaining,” said Dean Headley of Wichita State University, which produced the report along with the Aviation Institute at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
The third annual Airline Quality Report is based on a number of factors, including accident rates, pilot mistakes, overbooked flights, refunds, fares, frequent-flier programs, passenger complaints, mishandled baggage and the age and size of the fleet.
While American has been ranked at the top in all three surveys, its monthly quality rating in 1992 ran below the previous years’ level.
After American, Southwest Airlines was ranked No. 2 in 1992, followed by United Airlines. Trans World Airlines finished last.
Airline officials blamed last summer’s half-price fare war--which led to overcrowded airplanes and airports--for much of the decline in service levels indicated in the report.
“It’s very difficult to please everyone when your planes are so full, as they were last summer,” American Airlines spokesman Marty Heires said.
Faced with combined losses of more than $10 billion over the last 2 1/2 years, airlines have conducted massive cost-cutting campaigns, ranging from canceling billions of new aircraft orders to dropping hot meal service.
Alaska Airlines, for example, no longer includes spoons in its silverware packets if they are not necessary and has switched to cheaper plastic cups.
First-class passengers will find only one linen napkin instead of two.
“We’ve focused on areas that are essentially imperceptible to the customers,” Alaska spokesman Bill Ehrlich said.
However, as the Airline Quality Report shows, passengers have been bothered by other cost-cutting measures.
Many airlines, for example, have switched to narrow-body jets or even small turbo props and have reduced and eliminated scheduled service on poorly performing routes.
In talks with his customer advisory board, Thomas Nulty, president of the Associated Travel Management agency, has found a lot of discontent.
“They find the connecting hub airports very crowded and difficult to negotiate,” Nulty said. “The travel experience was not as good as it used to be.”
Frequent business travelers, who often pay top dollar for airline seats, complain the most about service cutbacks and crowded planes, said Trish Krumm, marketing director of Mutual Travel in Seattle.
“Business people are really annoyed because they are the ones paying top dollar,” Krumm said.
“Last summer was misery. People traveling on business hated it.”
Service is improving in some respects, but mostly for customers who pay higher fares. To keep its lucrative roster of business clients happy, Krumm said her agency has hired two concierges to assist passengers with last-minute problems at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
Several U.S. carriers have also improved first-class service and added business class on several domestic routes for passengers who want extra attention and room.
Newcomer Ultrair has focused on catering to business travelers with full service and few discounts.
“We are seeing emerging opportunities to get better service if passengers want to pay for it,” Nulty said.
Reuters wire service contributed to this report.
Rating the Airlines
Here are the top 10 airlines, according to a survey by Brent Bowen of the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s Aviation Institute and Dean Headley of the business school at Wichita State University.
The survey uses 19 criteria to rank major U.S. carriers with $1 billion or more in annual revenue. The researchers say their goal is to produce an overall quality rating for each airline by pooling government figures on customer complaints, overbooking and on-time performance with a wide range of other data.
1991 1992 1. American 1. American 2. Southwest 2. Southwest 3. Delta 3. United 4. United 4. Delta 5. USAir 5. USAir 6. Pan American* 6. Northwest 7. Northwest 7. America West 8. Continental 8. Continental 9. America West 9. TWA 10. TWA *
* Pan American went out of business in December, 1991 Source: Bloomberg Business News
