How does a passenger rank an airline

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 23 Nov 2004, 13:51

I have often wondered that how do people or fellow travellers rank an airline.

Is it by the airline's history.
Is it by the aircraft they are flying in.
Is it by the food they serve.
Is it by the ground crew.
Is is by the cabin crew (Am not sure if the fellow traveller includes the pilots in them)
Is it by the time taken to reach.
Is it by the interiors.
Is it by the freebies.
Is it by the fare.

An honest opinion would be appreciated.

waldova · Post by **waldova** » 23 Nov 2004, 13:53

I think this depends from one type of passanger to another, you can't tell to what the passangers look most.

eurojet · Post by **eurojet** » 23 Nov 2004, 14:24

Hi advisor,

depends....

If I fly for business reasons, priorities (so my basis for ranking) are.

1) safety record (get me there in one piece)
2) flight schedule (possibility of day-return, and no changing at hubs please)
3) punctuality
4) flexibility in changing tickets/rebookings etc
5) FF-programme

If I fly for private reasons

1) safety record (get me there in one piece)
2) price
3) price
4) price
5) price

I would never pay more because a certain company has IFE (did you ever notice when you fly long-haul and your plane has IFE, after a while, most people just ignore it or watch the "airshow"), gives good food (if I want good food, I go to a restaurant) or flies the newest A340-600 (new planes are no guarantee for decent seat pitch or comfort, on the contrary). For personal trips, I have no company loyalty at all, and will always go for the cheapest option, and when I buy cheaply, I am fully aware of the consequences (strange routings, risks of being bumped, etc ...). The sole exception is when Iberia is the cheapest, and the next possible option is another company, since I avoid Iberia at all costs, since they do not fulfil the bare minimum of what I would call "product satisfaction".

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 24 Nov 2004, 09:23

Dear Eurojet,

Greetings and good wishes. I am happy that you shared your personal insights but what are the basis the industry looks upon an airline.

How are statistics achieved in Airline Rankings.

Anybody!

Comet · Post by **Comet** » 24 Nov 2004, 11:31

After some bad experiences, I have only been too happy to draw up a list of what I call good and bad in an airline.

I consider:

the attitude of the reservations staff (bad with Air New Zealand, good with others I've flown with)

the attitude of the flight attendants (bad on Air New Zealand, generally good on other carriers I travelled with)

the type of aircraft used can be a bonus - I chose to fly on Air France to sample my first ever A320

schedules - very important as I like morning flights out and afternoon flights home and I have always managed to satisfy this with carriers I have flown with recently

the airport used and its accessibility for non-car-drivers - both Birmingham and Manchester are served by their own rail stations

the "image" of the airport - London City is not full of lager louts, which sadly can be a problem at Manchester

loyalty also plays a big part - I have never flown to Belgium on a non-Belgian airline and I will only fly to Belgium on Belgian airlines

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 24 Nov 2004, 11:40

Comet has given a more broader perspective and yes opened new avenues.

Airports Used.

Loyalty towards the airline. Also Local airlines preffered more at the home town/base.

Type of aircraft used. Latest et all.

And yes above all attitude of the reservation and crew on board. After all it all is in the attitude and not in the aptitude.

5Y-KQV · Post by **5Y-KQV** » 24 Nov 2004, 13:24

In addition to what has been mentioned before, I would like to add a very important parameter (at least in Africa) generally is the amount of weight allowed (sounds interesting doesn't it). You often hear folks rate Emirates as a good airline because they offer 60kg check-in baggage in economy (you regularly find folks checking-in 60kg plus and have another 20plus Kg of carry-on baggage). A good number of travellers fall in this category. Most of the baggage is made up of gifts for family members (we generally have large families) and/or goods for commercial purposes.

Cheers,

Walter.

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 27 Nov 2004, 08:35

Walter has added another feather and has pointed out a new feature with which we can rank.

Thanks walter.

nwa757 · Post by **nwa757** » 29 Nov 2004, 17:03

I have flown different airlines for different reasons:

I fly Northwest because they are the only airline that has first class in Green Bay and I fly America West because they fly the 737 and they have really good cherry pie (and because they have some really hot f/a's

)

sab319 · Post by **sab319** » 29 Nov 2004, 17:25

Wath about a Luchtzak airline classification system, something where our members can give points to the airline so that others can see how they are liked....

Jense · Post by **Jense** » 29 Nov 2004, 18:09

I think most of the people care about one big thing: being on time... Off corse the airport, aircraft, staff, etc. have also an important job, but I think 'being on time' is for sure the first reason.

sab319 wrote:Wath about a Luchtzak airline classification system, something where our members can give points to the airline so that others can see how they are liked....

I know the results before the voting starts

greettzzz

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 03 Dec 2004, 09:29

This is a great idea. Luchtzak Airline Classification System. We can even nick name it as CLASS Short for CLASS LUCHTZAK AIRLINE SERVICE STANDARDS.

Any takers!

Post by **luchtzak** » 03 Dec 2004, 13:48

Long ago we did a voting on the front-page, it's not complete though but it gives an idea: https://www.aviation24.be/modules.php?name ... s&pollID=8

Maybe we can arrange a new voting booth on the front-page related to this topic?

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 03 Dec 2004, 16:39

Thank you SIR! For considering a new voting booth on the front-page related to this topic!

heathrow · Post by **heathrow** » 27 Dec 2004, 07:04

I usualy fly because of the compfort. If I'm on a plane for 12 hours, I want something compfy, where as I'll stand up if it's a short flight. I usualy fly YYZ-LON. British Airways is my preferance because the plane is clean, great entertainment, friendly cabin staff and large compfy seats, while the complete oposite for Air Canada, and don't get me started on the charters.

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 27 Dec 2004, 10:41

So, Comfort, Cleanliness, Courtesy, Cabin Space also are incorporated in the study.

Thanks Hearthrow.

Ozzie1969 · Post by **Ozzie1969** » 27 Dec 2004, 16:39

First of all, what's important is to find an airline that flies to my intended destination from an airport not too far from where I live (I have flown from BRU, CDG, CRL and AMS; would like to fly from ANR or OST).
Singapore Airlines may be an excellent airline, but I can't use it to get to e.g. Lisbon.
As soon as I find any number of airlines that fly from a nearby airport to my destination, I'll check departure and arrival times. Departure very late in the evening on a short flight (anything within Europe) may not be very convenient, so I'll prefer an airline with an early departure time. For a flight outside Europe, the late departure time may be more advantageous.
And last but not least, I'll go for the cheapest fare, although bad experiences with a particular airline may always push me to fork out some extra cash to avoid that "bad" airline. On a flight to a destination outside Europe, I will ALWAYS avoid an airline with which I have had a bad experience in the past (in my case : Gulf Air and Malaysian). I would even be prepared to fly a few extra hours just to avoid a particular transit airport, e.g. Kuala Lumpur.

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 28 Dec 2004, 09:49

Thank you Ozzie for bringing into the limelight several personal factors such as the airline may be an award winning airline but if it does not fly from nearby, then i does make little sense.

Jumbolino · Post by **Jumbolino** » 02 Jan 2005, 14:24

hmmm,
When I fly for business purposes the flights are mostly short hops (due to 2.5 hours non-stop)
well, my ranking is
1. punctuality of the airline (the most shitty thing ever happened in this case was - I woke up at 4.00 am in the morning to fly INN-SZG-DUS with Tyrolean back in 2000 to be in DUS at 08.05 in the morning and to be picked up there and it ends up in an INN-SZG-ZRH-DUS roundtrip and to be in DUS at 12

... no it was NOT due to bad weather or a strike it was because of a stupid airline, which packed me in the INN-SZG leg with THEIR knowledge that the connection flight is cancelled instead of rerouting me directly from INN to ZRH or FRA ....)
2. schedule (for leisure I like a little stop so to have four flights at the price of four but for business time counts)
3. service eg. if I have the choice of nearly the same price to fly eg. SN Brussels with food or Swiss without you know what I will choose
4. price even for business you have to look a bit on the price eg. if one offers an ECO tkt for 200 or 300 EUR return and the other for 1000 I know exactly WHAT to choose.

well, the most counting points mentioned ....

many happy landings for 2005 8) !

Advisor · Post by **Advisor** » 03 Jan 2005, 12:26

Thank you Jumbolino. I shall post the entire report compiled soon.

Any more posts here!

Aviation24.be

How does a passenger rank an airline

How does a passenger rank an airline

Eurojet makes sense