The next question is: how do you judge an airline? Do you judge whether they charge for checked bags? Do you judge an airline based on whether they’re on time? Or do you judge based on the number of complaints?
I’ve actually monitored the complaints that go to the US Department of Transportation and there were about 7,000 complaints to the DOT last year, but that’s not that bad considering 630 million passengers were flying last year. With numbers that low, how do we track trends?
The airline that got the highest number of complaints was Delta with 1,406. How do you average that out because one plane full of angry customers could equate to the number of complaints you have for the whole year?
The real problem is that these qualifications are too broad. If an airline tells you it’s the most on-time airline, but its you are taking a flight to Cleveland that is delayed 96 percent of the time, then it doesn’t matter to you if they are the most on-time airline overall.
Here’s how I rate airlines: I rate them not by airline, but by route. If you want to know which is the best airline from LA to NY I can tell you based on the route. However, be warned that the best airline for LA to NY will differ than the airline with the best route for LA to Chicago.
You have to do the same for hotels as well. No one can tell me that Sheraton or Hilton is the best hotel overall. This applies to high-end hotels as well because the Ritz-Carlton in San Juan has no comparison to the Ritz-Carlton in San Francisco. They all vary.
You have to judge it by individual city for a hotel and individual route for airline. You’ll be flying blind if you don’t.
For more of Peter’s thoughts on hotel and airline ratings, check out:
- Travel Tip: The Truth about Hotel Ratings Systems
- How Accurate are Online Travel Reviews
- Hotel Photo Secrets: Why Doesn’t My Room Look Like the Picture
- JD Power & Associates Releases Latest Airline Satisfaction Survey
By Peter Greenberg for Peter Greenberg Worldwide
