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Even IRS Is More Popular than Airlines

United's Score As Bad As It Gets

By Dan Schlossberg
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 18, 2007

• Be a Traveler, Not a Target • Money Solutions for the Traveler • Travel News

Ouch!

The airline industry is in such sad shape that a poll of 80,000 consumers rated it worse than the hated Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

According to the study, the current United Airlines rating was one of the worst ever measured by the Consumer Satisfaction Index.

The survey, conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index of the University of Michigan, covered 19 major industries. Only one – satellite/cable television – ranked lower.

In fact, the 63 per cent satisfaction grade given the airline industry would merit an "F" on a high school report card.

Last year’s 65 mark (out of 100) would have produced a "D" in New Jersey, the most densely populated state in the union, but would still be considered very unsatisfactory.

Every major carrier ranked below the "C" limit of 70 per cent, with only Southwest able to break that plateau. The popular discounter led the industry with a rating of 76.

At the low end, United managed a mere 56, a drop of seven points from last year’s survey, even though it recently emerged from bankruptcy court protection.

The IRS notched a 65 in the 2007 survey, while the television industry finished at 62.

The industrywide rating of 63 was down 3.1 per cent from last year. Consumers who commented condemned carriers for surly service, poor communication, unexplained delays and cancellations, and mishandled luggage. Long weather-related waits on tarmacs with insufficient supplies and sanitation also contributed to the low ratings in this year’s survey.

According to spokesmen for the annual survey, any industry with a rating even close to the IRS mark is in serious trouble. Rating behind the IRS is considered especially embarrassing.

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