Participants in the study by Engine Service Design, which surveyed 1,025 adults online last month, were asked to name the three sectors from a list of 14 with the worst service.
In last year"™s survey, air travel was named by only 12.8% of respondents "“ with only hotels and hospitality (8.8%) and technology (12.4%) on lower numbers.
But the sector now features among the top three for 17.1% of respondents, up 4.3 percentage points year on year and the steepest decline, suggesting it has done more than any other industry to damage its reputation in the last year.
High-profile incidents the public perceived as poorly dealt with by airlines are likely to have contributed to this, Engine"™s co-founder Joe Heapy said.
He said: «British Airway"™ IT melt-down and the United Airline"™ passenger incident were the most high-profile examples in an industry that seems to be struggling to look after its customers.
«However, it wasn"™t just that the incidents were bad, arguably it was their response that caused as much anger, particularly in BA"™s case. In an era of rampant cost cutting, their actions and reactions can give the impression that people are more akin to cargo than passengers»…
