According to the 2008 North American Airline Satisfaction Study from the consumer research group J.D. Power and Associates, the leading factor for the decline in customer satisfaction was due to poor airline customer service.
The recent study found that customer dissatisfaction with the helpfulness and courtesy of flight staff, gate agents and crew was twice as large as dissatisfaction with pricing. Sam Thanawalla, director of the global hospitality and travel practice at J.D. Power stated:
“Passengers are being affected by the ramifications of carriers making staff cutbacks and have expressed performance and attitudes of airline staff are suffering.”
In the study, there were seven areas probed to measure customer satisfaction levels for traditional and low-cost airlines: cost, crew, in-flight services, aircraft, check-in, the boarding deplaning and baggage claim processes and the reservation and check-in process.
JetBlue, for the third year in a row, ranked the highest over-all, scoring well in six out of seven of the categories, while Continental Airlines and Alaska Airlines tied for first among traditional carriers. Continental continued a three-year streak among the old-line airlines. Alaska Airlines and Air
Online checking and airport kiosks were used by many airlines to speed up the check-in and boarding process and cut staffing costs. Alaska Airlines, a major carrier along the West Coast, has relied heavily on kiosks, as well as an automated baggage drop as part of patented system called “Airport of the Future.” Paul McElroy, spokesman for Alaska Airlines said, “It allows our customer service agents to handle twice the amount of customers than we usually would.”
The J.D. Power study found that more passengers were booking their flights online in 2008 than in 2007. Older passengers were more likely to prefer complementary meals, while younger ones preferred in-flight movies. Rewards program was also a contributing factor for the passenger’s preference of choosing an airline.
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