U.S. Air Carriers Get Bad Marks In Study

Above, the United Boeing 787 I flew to Japan in. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

If my Japan trip experience with United Airlines is any indication, I'd say that service provided by U.S. air carriers has greatly deteriorated over the years.

As I posted previously, I found United's food mediocre (at best) and the way they canceled my flight for the return trip home (due to maintenance) and the replacement flight(s) with numerous stops very unnerving. Luckily, a nice United ticket clerk at Narita International Airport got me a good direct flight home to L.A.

According to an article in Japan Today, two university researchers have found that service provided by U.S. air carriers have gotten worse and complaints are up.

They wrote:

DALLAS —Think flying is getting worse? A pair of university researchers who track the airline business say it’s a fact. 

More flights are late, more bags are getting lost, and customers are lodging more complaints about U.S. airlines, government data shows. Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State and one of the co-authors of the annual report being released Monday, said passengers already know that air travel is getting worse. “We just got the numbers to prove it.”

They then the study's findings. What they found is not very pretty.

After last year's experience, I decided that I will only fly to Japan on Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Singapore Airlines or Korean Air. No more U.S. carriers for me on international flights.

To read the report, go here.