Treating flyers well is bad for airlines’ business
Unfortunately, Amtrak seems to be following this trend.
FOR all the frequent travellers out there just aching for airlines to make the flying experience slightly less unpleasant, there’s one fundamental obstacle: you. The airline industry recently undertook a wide-ranging study of passenger satisfaction, surveying 60,000 passengers on 30 airlines in 39 hub airports around the world, and examining 75 factors that contribute to a flyer’s satisfaction level.
The results make for sobering reading. The study concluded that there is no correlation between customers’ happiness and an airline’s commercial success. In other words, airlines can do all they want to pamper travellers—provide friendlier service, roomier seats, more movie options, better food, greater punctuality—and none of it is likely to lead to higher profits.
Unfortunately, Amtrak seems to be following this trend.