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airline customer service posts

Middle-class air travel: What happened to it?

Posted Jun 28th 2007 12:30PM by Tom Barlow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad News, Industry, Daimler (DAI), Sears Holdings (SHLD), Yum Brands (YUM), Southwest Airlines (LUV), US Airways Group (LCC), AMR Corp (AMR), Contl Airlines'B' (CAL), UAL Corp (UAUA), Nordstrom, Inc (JWN), Crocs Inc (CROX), JetBlue Airways (JBLU), Delta Air Lines (DAL)

Imagine a car industry that only offered two models, a Mercedes-Benz (NYSE: DCX) S600 and a Chevrolet (NYSE: GM) Aveo. A restaurant industry that forced you to choose between Taco Bell (NYSE: YUM) and Smith and Wollensky (NASDAQ: SWRG), with nothing in between. A clothing industry that offered only K-Mart (NASDAQ: SHLD) house brands and designer labels, no Old Navy (NYSE: GPS) or Crocs (NASDAQ: CROX).

Intolerable, right? We middle-class shoppers demand products with a modest price but acceptable quality.

So how did we end up with an airline industry that offers only two real choices, cattle car or royalty? Where are the middle-class offerings? My wants are not complicated. I want a little more room. I want quicker check-in. I want to talk to real people when my flight is delayed. I want the kind of service I would receive at Applebee's (NASDAQ: APPB), or a Holiday Inn (NYSE: IHG), or (to shoot for the moon), Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN)

Unfortunately, I receive service that is rated by the American public as worse than the IRS, seating reminiscent of my grade-school desk, and the punctuality of a grunge band concert.

Continue reading Middle-class air travel: What happened to it?

Least surprising news of 2007- airline delays the worst in 13 years

Posted Jun 5th 2007 11:13AM by Tom Barlow (RSS feed)
Filed under: Bad News, Consumer Experience, US Airways Group (LCC), JetBlue Airways (JBLU)

Latest FAA statistics confirm that air travel has reached a new low. In the first third of 2007, over one-quarter of flights within the U.S. were late on arrival, and almost 70,000 flights were canceled. And this despite many airlines padding their arrival times to give them a generous cushion against delays.

Nearly half of the delays were weather-related, including the Denver snowstorm debacle that sent JetBlue's (NASDAQ: JBLU) reputation for customer service plummeting. Even in April, after the weather improved, JetBlue was second only to US Airways in lowest on-time arrivals, at 64.8%. Comair joined the tardy trio with 67.9% on-time arrivals.

US Airways (NYSE: LCC), which I've nicknamed "Air Mañana," operated four of the six most frequently delayed flights in April. These six flights you most want to avoid:

Continue reading Least surprising news of 2007- airline delays the worst in 13 years