El Grifo
in the other 99.99% of cases, the single biggest complaint is the misleading or total lack of information when a delay is experienced.
Talk facts please. Your percentage is a figure you have plucked out of the air to try to back up your statement. I doubt very much if it is any where near that percentage of delays that get complaints about lack of communication. What evidence can you quote to back this figure up and give it any credibility? Many airlines understand the point you are making and actively encourage timely and accurate information to their passengers during a delay. Remember, if you want their repeat business you have to treat them properly. This does not mean you have to go into technical details which may not be understood by some/ many passengers, or may even scare them, so your impression that you are not being told the truth may just be that you are not being availed of everything that the crew knows. Perfectly reasonable and a judgement call that we are paid to make. If something has broken that means the aircraft is not safe to fly, I will tell the passengers this and re-assure them about the part being replaced and the aircraft being put back into a condition that I am happy to take flying. It aint rocket science and I cannot think why you would need to lie unless you work for an absolute cowboy airline where you are trying to hide everything about your operation.
In many cases the representatives are told to lie
I don't know any of my pilot acquaintances across many airlines in my country and abroad who are given such guidance. Please give us details of such airlines, or, as I suspect, is it just your opinion that they are told to lie?
Point I am trying to make is that if "front of house" is showing a big drop in standards
You reckon? Where's your evidence of this? Fact is, flying is safer now than it has ever been. Show us the evidence of the drop in standards as it is not my impression here in the UK and the rest of the developed world. You actually say a "big drop in standards", I reckon you are wildly speculating. Once again, give us the evidence, find statistics from any regulatory authority that demonstrate your opinion, as I think you will not be able to find any such evidence. Otherwise, retract your speculation or place a caveat in your post which acknowledges that you don't know what you are typing to be true and state that it is just speculation.
PP