Complaints against airlines soaring

[oz_mark]

The Federal Government is pushing for airlines to improve their response to passenger gripes, writes Clive Dorman.

The Federal Government will use a carrot-and-stick approach to raise the level of protection for consumers against poor behaviour by the airline industry, following a surge in complaints

Complaints against airlines soaring

 

[FL360]

It would be more helpful if the government is willing to release some more stats, for example, number of compliants per seats flown, by airline....

 

[N860CR]

The airlines themselves often make public such data, I'd say generally because its a fairly small percentage (probably not representitive of the quality of their service).

Interesting that it notes one of the biggest cause for complaints is the complaints handling process itself. After dealing with JQ in the past and, more recently, QF, even as a SG the entire process was pretty poorly handled. Perhaps the carriers do need a bit of a kick up the backside to pull themselves into line.

 

[trooper]

I realise this merely demonstrates that I AM a cynical old bugger.. but I wonder how many of these complaints are about things that are more-or-less clearly defined during the booking/ticketing/check in processes... and just ignored by the person who then goes on to complain... because things were not as they assumed them to be...

This was - of course - after buying the ticket that was the very cheapest available...

The article implies that these sort of complaints are well represented!

 

[harvyk]

It would be more helpful if the government is willing to release some more stats, for example, number of compliants per seats flown, by airline....

The problem is that it wouldn't be overly useful data.

I'd guess the bulk of the complaints that an airline has is due to people not reading the Terms and Conditions properly, you know that checkbox which needs to be clicked before you can continue, and thus not realising certain conditions such as minimum check in times.

With airfares becoming cheaper allowing more people with little travel experience and limited means to fly (an extra $50 means a whole lot more to you when the flights only cost $20), and LCC's with their less flexible rules, and less ability to assist if something goes wrong (eg a plane is delayed) it is of no surprise that complaints would rise.