Airlines may never fly right on customer service, experts warn
Experts say that U.S. airlines may never end up providing good customer service.
— -- Maybe all the hubbub about flight delays and shoddy service is beginning to register with the USA's big airlines.
So, are good times for travelers just around the corner? Don't bet on it, say skeptical travelers, industry insiders and customer-service experts who say the peculiarities of the airline business will forever leave the industry below average in satisfying travelers. It's just not a business that's wired for pleasing customers in the way that, for example, retailer Nordstrom is.
The vagaries of weather are just part of it. Among other factors: a business culture in which the costs of fuel and labor are viewed as more important than happy customers in determining profitability, recent cuts that may go too deep to ever deliver exceptional service, and customer attitudes that discount the value of good service from airlines even when they get it.
University of Michigan research shows that airline passengers consistently have been among the least-satisfied consumers in the USA for the past 13 years. Even the U.S. Postal Service, once the poster child for bad customer service, now swamps most airlines with a respectable 73 on the 100-point American Customer Satisfaction index. The airlines scored an abysmal 63 in the annual ratings issued earlier this year.
The airline industry score is low enough, says Michigan business professor Claes Fornell, the ACSI's creator, that most carriers would be in danger of failing if their customers had travel options.
