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November 25, 2024
Is Airline Travel Actually Getting Worse, and What Can Be Done To Fix the Industry’s Problems?
Flying, for many, can be considered a chore nowadays. Whether flying for business or pleasure, cramped seating arrangements, unimpressive airline food, and poor behavior both from fellow travelers and from agents representing the industry too often crop up as reasons to avoid the practice entirely. This may be of particular concern this Thanksgiving, according to CBS News, as air travel is expected to reach an all-time high for the holiday.
Despite the common complaints, is airline travel actually becoming noticeably worse — and if so, what can be done to fix the problem?
Passenger Discontent Reaches High Not Seen Since the COVID-19 Pandemic
According to AP News, American airline passengers are not exactly happy with the current state of affairs.
The U.S. Transportation Department indicated it had received almost 97,000 complaints in 2023, a figure so substantial that it took department workers until July of this year to sort through the filings and produce an accurate count.
That number also reflects the highest amount of complaints since 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic made things a great deal more difficult both for airlines and fliers. While airlines may have been slow to issue refunds after the pandemic forced the cancellation of scheduled flights, no such — at least obvious — reason to substantiate a flood of complaints exists more recently.
In fact, as AP News pointed out, airlines only canceled 1.2% of all flights in 2023 compared to 2.3% in 2022. Delays were about the same over both years (21% of all flights recorded delays in both 2022 and 2023).
Complaints regarding racial discrimination and discrimination against passengers with disabilities ticked upward, yet the Transportation Department also indicated that the increase in complaints could simply be due to more passengers being aware of their rights and the process necessary to file a complaint.
Cramped Coach Seating and ‘Unbundling’ of Services Irk Passengers
Airlines are increasingly focused on catering to first-class fliers, according to an extensive report from Bloomberg writer Amanda Mull.
While pre-pandemic figures for premium seats may have remained somewhat stagnant, that doesn’t appear to be the case in the post-pandemic era. By 2023, Delta was selling 74% of available first-class seats for cash — and it wasn’t alone in seeing this boost, as Mull indicated. As United Airlines plans to expand its premium inventory by 75% per flight and Delta has announced “nose-to-tail” cabin redesigns for its entire fleet over the next few years based on the surge of interest in premium seating, passengers opting to sit in coach may find themselves facing a further squeeze.
“But for passengers at the back of the plane, all of this talk of upgraded comfort might sound like trolling. Flying in coach now means being antagonized at every turn — by extra fees for all kinds of things that used to be included, by the shrinking seat real estate, by overstuffed overhead bins, by the dwindling odds of ever getting to sit next to a blessedly empty seat,” Mull wrote.
Making the point that major airlines are now emulating low-cost carriers by “unbundling” amenities in a profit-seeking move — “full-price carriers have opted to become budget ones at the back of their own planes,” as she wrote — Mull suggested that things were about to get even less convenient, and pricey bit-by-bit, for those who opt out of luxury fares.
“If you want to check a bag, change your reservation, pick your seat in advance, sit next to a window or aisle, or guarantee your kid is next to you, you’ll have to pay extra, either with a fee or with a more expensive ticket,” she added. “United has gone furthest in emulating the budget airlines: It now charges these ticket holders for bringing a carry-on suitcase.”
What Can Be Done To Improve the Situation?
Per CBS News, there are 27,000 fewer flights this year so far, despite high passenger volume, because airlines have managed to fit an average of six more passengers in each plane. With shrinking space in coach a reality and a decline in both customer service as well as passenger behavior in evidence, as WHYY detailed, what can be done to fix the situation?
As quoted by CBS News, professor Ganesh Sitaramen, author of “Why Flying Is Miserable And How To Fix It,” pointed toward political pressure as being essential to any change. He gave the example of the deregulation of U.S. airlines in 1978 as being largely responsible for the current climate in the airline industry and suggested it was time to reverse course.
“What that means is having some amount of regulated rates to prevent price gouging and to prevent declines in the amount of quality,” Sitaramen said.
Instead of complaining to the airline if you have a terrible traveling experience, it may be better to call your elected official.
“Call up your congressman … That’s the way we’re going to make change, is by people in government actually doing something about it,” he added.
Peter Greenberg, travel editor for CBS News, said it may simply be time to lower expectations.
“So if you’re looking from an experiential point of view, when people ask me if I had a nice flight, you know what I say to them? Two words: we landed. It was a great flight,” Greenberg said.
Discussion Questions
Is airline travel actually getting worse, or are common concerns such as decreased space and unbundled pricing overstated?
What can airlines do to improve the customer service experience on flights without compromising profit margins too heavily?
Is it wise to consider adding further regulatory oversight to the airline industry? Why or why not?
Poll
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Ian Scott
Director, Ian Scott Retail Consulting Ltd
Brian Cluster
Insights Consultant
David Spear
President, Retail, OrderlyMeds
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Many of the issues come down to the volume of people traveling and capacity constraints at airlines. This means everything is more crowded and busier, but also that there is a lot less slack to recover when things go wrong. That said, according to the Bureau of Transportation statistics, 75.25% of flights were on time between January and August of this year. Last year in the same period, the number was 75.67%. So, only a very small deterioration in terms of delays. Away from airlines, I think the airport experience could be significantly improved. Every single airport in the US should have the latest scanning technology that allows shoes to be left on and everything left in the bag. It’s one way of taking some of the friction out of air travel!
Jeez Louise! Is there no end to the complaining on these pages? People got what they wanted – low prices – and now they must reap the whirlwind of those unreasonable expectations (flying cross country for the price of a dinner). As for boorish behavior: well that too is what you get when you allow every slob AND every overprivleged snot thru the boarding gate. Arthur Frommer – he of “Europe on $5/Day” fame – recently died, and it might be instructive for people to review what was considered par “back in the day”…methinks the line of people willing to return to those palmy days will be far shorter than for the $49 weekend hop to Vegas.
Actually, when I was flying a lot (and even now, to be honest), I’d pay my own upgrade to first class within the US because the back of the plane was so intolerable. They make their money on business travelers. Always have. Otherwise Spirit would be thriving. Regarding Frommer, I did Europe and India on $1 a day. I was also under 25. And as it turns out, tickets were crazy cheap for “students” (under 25). So that whole line of thought is kind of bogus, no offense.
Sorry….there is NO excuse for the way the airlines are performing beyond greed. And if you don’t believe that, I have some great Boeing stock I can sell you (actually, I long ago sold it).
I think what’s most remarkable about reading vintage Frommer – beyond smiling about his advice on how many “drip dry” suits to pack – is how much the cost of air travel has declined (in some cases actually in nominal terms, but certainly compared to increases in income or other prices): in 1960, it was literally most of a cost of the trip. I won’t vouch for the quality of airlines, since I don’t fly enough to be exposed to a large sample, but I’d question if the quality has declined more than for a lot of other industries….dare I risk asking you about macy*s… or Walgreens ?
Low Prices doesn’t mean we have to accept rotten service, rude and abusive Airline Employees and addition fees for everything but fresh air. Since Covid it has become very clear that the Airlines know that people will keep flying no matter how bad they are treated.
No pass for rudeness I’ll give you, but do you really think there’s no connection between low (base) fares and surcharges?
I haven’t flown much since 2020…maybe 8 times? I always travel in front now, and even business class is lame. When I flew to Paris, the had us in pod seats that lay flat. Except only one leg would fit. It was uncomfortable and frustrating.
It’s not about cutting expenses. I think Spirit just proved that to us. It’s about doing a good job and flying around, not through crummy weather.
Long story short, as events become more of a thing, my desire to retire has grown strong. I scarcely want to even travel for fun anymore.
talk about killing the goose that lays the golden egg. As we say in the old country, “Feh.” I’m out
Party pooper!
Out!
I noticed for a while now, we see very few ads with airline brands advertising comfort, on-time arrivals, good service, or anything cool or luxurious about the plane. Why don’t we see ads like that, anymore? It’s because being better is no longer a priority, nor even necessary. In most markets, passengers have only one or two choices on any given route, and decisions are easily made by wide price gaps, and which one is direct, and which one is less bad.
Flying used to be premium, then later it became premium or budget, and today it’s all a commodity. Premium comfort and service are hard to find, and you will almost never find it on domestic flights. Even first class seating is increasingly hard to find, and when it’s available, you get more room, drinks, and little else.
Delays and cancellations are less unusual than in the past. Inconvenience are caused by labor shortages, broken equipment, airplane issues in route to your location, and the necessity to replace flight crews.
Large city airports are crowded with long slow lines, and gates not even in the same terminal.
Today, a thunderstorm in Philadelphia impacts flights in Phoenix. Delays are irritating, with information inside the airport, or at the gate, being only vague, inaccurate, and poorly communicated.
Fewer aircraft are currently flying than in years past. Not only that but we also have fewer airlines and brands, so there is very little competition. Delays and cancelations have serious consequences for travelers, not just causing people to miss important meetings, but in some cases limiting their access to food and water while they’re stuck on a plane for hours.
How will it all get better? Candidly, I don’t sense that the industry is motivated to make it better. The industry needs a complete overall, and it will take some mavericks, including a new transportation leader in Washington, to rework the chaos and plans.
While you can definitely get a great experience on an airline in economy class, it is definitely getting more complicated to do so. There are more and more annoyances that make it hard to really enjoy yourself, which may lead to more complaints. Below are two annoyances and an opportunity.
1) Airline seats are shrinking in size while society is increasing in size. According to Conde Nast travel, seat width has shrunk two inches since the 1980’s. In the meantime, both men and women have easily gained more than one inch in the waist. If you having trouble fitting into your seat, you are more likely to be in foul mood. Airlines are in the real estate biz, but I do see more and more people having difficulties fitting in their seats.
2) The overhead bin/ baggage game is tired. Years ago, I don’t remember everyone struggling every trip to jam one more piece of overhead luggage in the last remaining nook of the plane. In my experience more than 50% of the “carry on” luggage don’t fit and it has to be left at the end of the jetway. Can’t we use advanced analytics or predictive AI to find a more suitable price for luggage handling than having to endure watching this exercise on each flight?
The opportunity is about the snacks. Pretzels and biscuits seemed to have cornered the market on the airlines for 20 years. I know that these are free but what about surprising the customer once in a while and providing some alternative such as a healthy protein bar or a banana?
I know those are 1st world problems, but it is my honest take.
I have flown a lot this year and find the process arduous, and stressful in a way I never did before.
The way that airlines add in costs makes the process of booking a flight feel more like reading a complex trading contract – checking for the pitfalls and hidden problems. Many of the optional costs are added as a default and you have to identify then deselect them.
Flight consistency is falling, I have suffered multiple delays, cancellations and missed connections this year. To the point that I consciously try to avoid connecting flights.
Like so many industries, the attention given to customer service complaints is appalling. Automated procedures, bots that can’t handle the most basic issue, emails rejections sent via noreply emails.
Airlines fail to realise that they could positions themselves above competitors by investing in improved human to human customer service. They rarely see the value in properly handling complaints because the financial impact doesn’t appear clearly, and is never associated with the cost of customer service.
I had a horrendous experience with United Airlines in June, missing a connecting flight and being stranded in Vancouver airport at 12.30am. Their handling of this problem means I will never fly with them again, my LinkedIn post about this got 60,000 views, further promoting their failures. I have booked 3 flights to the US since then, consciously avoiding United, even when they were the cheapest or most favourable flight time. Consequential Loss is a real thing!
I have to say that in the 34 years of travel since we started our company, Rich and I have had very few issues with air travel. Knock on wood that continues. Southwest out of Chicago’s Midway Airport has always been our airline of choice. In Chicago, if it even looks like it might snow there is a good chance the airlines at O’Hare will start to cancel flights.
I like that Southwest is upfront about charges, we can sit wherever we like and bags fly free. I also prefer how SWA boards because the long list on United and American of who gets to board first is ridiculous. By the time people who don’t rank high in their loyalty clubs finally get to board you know how unimportant you are. And seriously people, would it kill you to check a bag? The fight for overhead space is out of hand.
I recently experimented and flew on United, paying handsomely to upgrade my seat, and still did not have enough room to cross my legs. I tried American next, also upgraded my seat, and fortunately had more legroom than United. But these upgrades – that really aren’t upgrades – add up, and sometimes are not available, so this week I am back to Southwest.
I am sad that Southwest is changing soon to be more like other airlines. I hope that the changes are not as crazy and costly as other major airlines, but I am not holding my breath.
As a road warrior for most of my professional career, I have seen a multitude of changes that have negatively impacted the flying experience. Without a doubt, it has deteriorated over the last 10 years, due in most part post 9/11 security changes that were important and necessary. But analytics, i.e. revenue management, have played an equal role. The airlines have figured out how to shrink seat real estate, add rows and eliminate the number of flights to maximize profitability. Generally speaking, the flying experience has evolved into a two-tier game, premium and economy. If you want a better experience, pay for it. If you buy that low fare, adjust your expectations based on the price you paid. Final word: as we are in Thanksgiving Week, let’s give THANKS for all the blessings and good things we have in life. And if you’re flying, thank the incredible pilots and airline crew who do an amazing job keeping us safe and getting us to our destinations so we can enjoy a big Turkey Day with family and friends.
Flight delays due to inclement weather or similar events should not count towards the industry average.
Delays due to malfunctioning equipment should count, and that problem must be addressed by each airline, pronto.
Boarding in reverse row sequence (last rows first, including business and first classes) will definitely help, as long as cabin attendants monitor the flow to the rear, with carry-on luggage in hand.
Airport congestion is a problem for the airports to solve: there is a flights-per-period comfortable limit to every airport and it should not be exceeded.
There. Wasn’t that easy?
I think it is a combo problem of capacity limits due to Boeing unable to deliver aircraft capacity and the number of flight crew retired during COVID and we have a gap in the pipeline of flight crew. Plus the increased travel demands everything just got worse. Add on that established airlines trying to fight the low budget airlines with the extra low fare seating with add-on fees, which personally I think ruined the brand experience for infrequent travelers.
Regulations can help somewhat in terms of Terms of Service for consumers, but the economics math and paths to profitability can’t overcome basic capacity and customer expectation issues. Travel is cheaper today then before in real dollars, but for the infrequent bargain fare travelers it has definitely gotten worse
I imagine that the sheer number of complaints is in proportion to the rising numbers of passengers. But the airlines have long ago determined that a percentage of dissatisfaction is just a cost of doing business. Their practices and policies demonstrate an absence of concern.
In the airline industry, the motive is to operate the systems as close to full capacity as possible – to maximize efficiency. Empty seats still fly, but they generate no revenue. I’m OK with full flights since they keep cost-per-passenger lower, but some limits should apply.
Squeezing extra passengers in by narrowing seats, adding rows and sacrificing personal space is not something people readily tolerate. Combine that with overcrowding at the terminals – worsened by the percentage of inevitable delays and missed connections – and air travel becomes an ordeal that many people cannot handle. This is bad for business.
All of this is already familiar to RW BrainTrust-ers and our readers, so I won’t go on ad nauseum. The idea that certain minimum standards might be defined for the airline industry has a certain merit, though.
Let me close with some words of praise for the supremely capable pilots who get us there safely and the flight attendants who exhibit otherworldly patience in their efforts to care for passengers. Their jobs might be made easier too, if a few common-sense, people-first standards were established across the industry.
In 2023, I flew almost every week for Business – In 2024 I drove to any meeting /event that was 6 hours or less – cut my Air Travel by 1/3 and had much more relaxing trips. The Airline employees changed attitude when they started to call us “Customers” rather than Passengers. Since Covid, the majority of Airline employees don’t care about anything – their attitude and customer service is at rock bottom. Air Travel in 2025 will be torture.
Could part of the increase in complaints be how mobile has made it far easier to make a complaint? You can complain in the terminal or even in your seat before takeoff. You no longer have to make a note and remember to call or email when you arrive at your destination. Even negative tweets / X posts get responses from airlines.
On the opportunity side, rail should be going hard at air passengers. While routes and schedules are a lot more limited in rail, there are upsides. Rail doesn’t make you feel like a criminal as you board. Train cars are roomier. And it’s easier to take a stroll on a train or grab food and drink. Just don’t expect to get where you want to get when they say you will. That’s an issue.
Late to join the discussion, but I realized after reading the comments that my wife and I flew a lot this year — Hawaii, Florida, Kansas City, Philly, Vancouver, New York and Savannah. (One more trip to New York this year.) I may be in a minority but I had relatively few issues with these experiences — keeping in mind that we were willing to pay extra for early boarding (on Southwest) or for extra legroom (on other airlines).
My major gripe with the experience is the boarding process, especially the passengers who bring absurdly big “carry-ons” onto the plane and bring everything to a halt. At least American is trying to address line-jumping (another issue) but nobody has figured this out.
We flew out of Milwaukee, O’Hare and Midway and we found that courtesy was met with courtesy at the ticket counter, the TSA line, the boarding gate and in-flight. Funny how that works…and the sooner Southwest figures out how to monetize a better experience the better. Their rollout of power outlets and now assigned seating is painfully slow.