fmcinop
15th Jun 2005, 01:43
Domestic airline survey
Over 500 CHOICE subscribers give you their verdict on the major domestic airlines.
Online 06/05
Domestic airline survey
Survey results for 4 domestic airlines
We surveyed a group of subscribers who’d taken at least one domestic flight within the past 12 months for their:
Overall rating (based on the respondents' experience over the previous 12 months)
Satisfaction with individual aspects (of respondents' last flight)
Convenience of flight time / day
Check-in procedure
Punctual departure
Seat location
Seat comfort
Legroom
Food
Inflight service
Entertainment
Cleanliness
Toilet facilities
Punctual arrival
Baggage handling
Value for money
Findings
Also in this report are some of the survey respondents' :
Major gripes
Views on seating allocations
Experiences with Frequent Flyer point usage
Thoughts on varing service standards
How are CHOICE tests different? We buy all the products we test — no industry freebies, no government funding. We're non-profit, we don't take ads and our work is funded solely by people like you.
Airlines surveyed
QANTAS
VIRGIN BLUE
JETSTAR
REGIONAL AIRLINES (REX)*
* Due to insufficient responses regarding this airline, it was not included in table 2 - Satisfaction with individual aspects of respondents' last flight.
The survey
When we last surveyed consumer satisfaction with airlines eight years ago, the then two major domestic carriers scored very similarly for overall satisfaction. But a lot has changed in the domestic airline market since then. In 2000, after the amendment of foreign ownership rules for Australian domestic airlines, discount airline VIRGIN BLUE entered the domestic market. The following year came the collapse of ANSETT and, just about a year ago, QANTAS launched its low-cost subsidiary JETSTAR.
The new budget airlines have stirred up the domestic airfare market considerably. With ever cheaper airfares on offer, we’re certainly benefiting from the increased competition. But is everyone happy getting cheaper fares at the expense of service? Or can we get a discount fare and good service?
To find out how satisfied people are with the major domestic airlines, we asked a group of subscribers who’d taken at least one domestic flight within the past 12 months about their experiences of the airlines generally and of their last flight — see the tables below for more. Thanks to all of you who took part in the survey, and for your valuable comments.
In brief
VIRGIN BLUE clearly beat its budget rival JETSTAR in our survey of customer satisfaction with the major domestic airlines.
The main gripes? For JETSTAR, no seat allocation and the 30-minute check-in closure policy. For QANTAS, the difficulty of using Frequent Flyer points. For VIRGIN BLUE, very little, although the friendly and ‘different’ staff praised by most people were ‘a bit much’ for some.
In February this year we invited over 5000 CHOICE and CHOICE Online subscribers to take part in an online survey if they’d flown with one of the four major domestic airlines in the previous 12 months. Just over 500 returned completed questionnaires. Thanks to all of you. We asked respondents to:
Rate the major domestic airlines (JETSTAR, QANTAS, (REGIONAL EXPRESS (REX) and VIRGIN BLUE) — see Table 1 (below) for the results.
Rate individual aspects of their most recent flight: comfort, service, punctuality, etc — see Table 2 (below) for results. We’ve only printed ratings for JETSTAR, QANTAS and VIRGIN BLUE, as REX had insufficient responses.
Although 44 of our respondents had flown with REX in the past year, only 11 had chosen it for their most recent flight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responses
In both tables the number in brackets after each airline’s name is the number of people who reported on it.
The majority of respondents were 35 and over; 59% were men. Around four in 10 lived in either Sydney or Melbourne, and the trip between these cities was the most common route flown. Almost two thirds had flown for private reasons, one third were business trips (more for QANTAS). Around two thirds of trips (fewer for QANTAS) were booked over the internet.
Table 1
Survey respondents’ overall rating (%) based on their experience over the previous 12 months
REGIONAL EXPRESS (REX) (44) 71
VIRGIN BLUE (276) 68
QANTAS (373) 67
JETSTAR (106) 47
Table 2
Satisfaction with individual aspects of respondents' last flight
Airline (in alphabetical order) Jetstar (43) Qantas (271) Virgin Blue (166)
Convenience of flight (time / day, %) 62 71 75
Check-in procedure (%) 54 75 80
Punctual departure (%) 60 67 74
Seat location (%) 38 67 74
Seat comfort (%) 48 58 63
Legroom (%) 34 52 56
Food (%) 39 (A) 52 55 (A)
Inflight service (%) 49 (A) 60 69 (A)
Entertainment (%) 25 (A) 54 (A) 49 (A)
Cleanliness (%) 64 69 75
Toilet facilities (%) 59 (A) 61 (A) 67 (A)
Punctual arrival (%) 65 69 75
Baggage handling (%) 62 69 76
Value for money (%) 64 60 82
Table notes
(A) Not all respondents rated this aspect, probably because not everyone bought food, used an entertainment option or visited the toilet during the flight.
This article last reviewed June 2005
Service and seating
Cheerful service a winner
Of the two budget rivals, VIRGIN BLUE clearly beat JETSTAR in our survey, with a more than 20% difference in overall rating. Table 1, gives the overall ratings our survey respondents awarded the domestic airlines they’d flown with in the previous 12 months: JETSTAR, QANTAS, REGIONAL EXPRESS REX and VIRGIN BLUE.
There’s no marked difference between REX, VIRGIN BLUE and QANTAS in the overall ratings, but when reporting on their last flight, our survey respondents rated VIRGIN BLUE better than both QANTAS and JETSTAR, and for almost all the individual aspects we asked them about — see Table 2, for details. (We didn’t have enough responses for REX to include it in this table.) Many were particularly impressed with VIRGIN BLUE’s ‘different’ approach to service, commenting along the lines of:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Very friendly and down-to-earth attitude, which was a nice change.”
“Love the customer service, focus on fun.”
“Quite satisfactory and enjoyable due to the antics of the flight crew.”
Criticisms of VIRGIN BLUE were few and far between, with only a small number commenting negatively on the airline’s ‘fresh’ approach to customer service:
“The ‘cute’ approach, clearly popular with a younger market, is a bit much for me.” “They sometimes talk to you as if you’re kids.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only aspect for which VIRGIN BLUE was rated slightly lower than QANTAS was entertainment. That’s not surprising, really, as none of the budget airlines provides free headphones. But VIRGIN BLUE sells reusable headphones for $2.50 (JETSTAR, too, for $3, on its Airbus flights) and is looking to provide, from July this year, TV (in conjunction with Foxtel) for an extra $5.
VIRGIN BLUE is well aware that it’s the staff that make the airline. “We wanted to make the flying environment friendlier than people here in Australia had become used to and put the fun back into flying,” said VIRGIN BLUE spokesperson Amanda Bolger. “Other airlines can’t replicate our service and culture.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unallocated seating cops flak
JETSTAR got the thumbs-down from our survey respondents who, on average, only awarded the airline a 47% overall rating and the lowest ratings for almost all aspects we surveyed (the exception was value for money).
While some people commented positively on JETSTAR’s staff, the fact that you don’t get an allocated seat, and that check-in closes half an hour before departure, raised the ire of many survey respondents. The quotes below are representative of many we received along similar lines:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Their ticketing system of lining up to get seats on a plane is ludicrous — a family of four hardly ever gets seats together. Their new system of colour-coding for progression onto the plane has only helped marginally … I flew three times with JETSTAR last year and … I’ll never fly with them again.”
“The strict 30-minute check-in policy is inflexible and signifies the inability to provide a friendly service. If you miss the 30-minute check-in you’re forced to upgrade to a full fare [on a later flight]. That’s very customer-unfriendly and I’ll always make every attempt to avoid this airline in future.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to JETSTAR, the unallocated seating system is a cost-saving measure, used by many airlines worldwide, which also provides for increased efficiency and faster turnaround. Spokesperson Simon Westaway said families with young children are among those allowed to board first; and families with older children should still be able to sit together if they check in early (and so qualify for an earlier-boarding colour code).
On JETSTAR’s check-in closure 30 minutes before departure, Mr Westaway said the earlier closure was in line with the airline’s focus on on-time performance. Industry statistics confirm the airline’s better performance (than QANTAS and VIRGIN BLUE) for on-time departures and arrivals. If someone did miss their flight, Mr Westaway said, they could get on a later JETSTAR flight, if a seat was available, by paying a change fee. Depending on the situation, JETSTAR might also charge for any fare difference. Some survey respondents were also unimpressed with JETSTAR’s food, inflight service and entertainment, three aspects which some simply marked as ‘not applicable’ (for both budget airlines), probably because they didn’t buy food or headphones, or because they didn’t care:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“No reclining seat or audio, but that’s not necessary for a one or two-hour flight.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bearing in mind that a relatively large number of survey respondents were unhappy with their last flight with JETSTAR, it comes as no surprise that 52% of the JETSTAR passengers in our survey said they’d choose a different airline if they had to fly to the same destination again, compared with just 16% of VIRGIN BLUE and 9% of QANTAS flyers.
This article last reviewed June 2005
Loyal travellers
Considering its long history on the Australian domestic airline market, it’s hardly surprising that the majority of our respondents (just over half) had chosen to fly QANTAS on their last flight (a third had flown with VIRGIN BLUE and 9% with JETSTAR, which was only launched in May last year).
“I’ve never experienced any difficulties or problems and rate QANTAS very highly because this has been the case for a long period of time.”
Others simply appreciated the “maturity of the cabin crew”, or the trimmings and service a full-service carrier provides:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the whole, though, our national carrier’s ratings for most aspects of the respondents’ last flight were lower than VIRGIN BLUE’s, and quite a number of people in our survey had criticisms about flying QANTAS domestically. The reasons for frustration ranged from what was described as low-quality food, over the perceived difference in treatment people experienced when flying business and economy class, to the difficulty of redeeming frequent flyer points (see Sandra of Mountain Creek's comments). Comments included:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over 500 CHOICE subscribers give you their verdict on the major domestic airlines.
Online 06/05
Domestic airline survey
Survey results for 4 domestic airlines
We surveyed a group of subscribers who’d taken at least one domestic flight within the past 12 months for their:
Overall rating (based on the respondents' experience over the previous 12 months)
Satisfaction with individual aspects (of respondents' last flight)
Convenience of flight time / day
Check-in procedure
Punctual departure
Seat location
Seat comfort
Legroom
Food
Inflight service
Entertainment
Cleanliness
Toilet facilities
Punctual arrival
Baggage handling
Value for money
Findings
Also in this report are some of the survey respondents' :
Major gripes
Views on seating allocations
Experiences with Frequent Flyer point usage
Thoughts on varing service standards
How are CHOICE tests different? We buy all the products we test — no industry freebies, no government funding. We're non-profit, we don't take ads and our work is funded solely by people like you.
Airlines surveyed
QANTAS
VIRGIN BLUE
JETSTAR
REGIONAL AIRLINES (REX)*
* Due to insufficient responses regarding this airline, it was not included in table 2 - Satisfaction with individual aspects of respondents' last flight.
The survey
When we last surveyed consumer satisfaction with airlines eight years ago, the then two major domestic carriers scored very similarly for overall satisfaction. But a lot has changed in the domestic airline market since then. In 2000, after the amendment of foreign ownership rules for Australian domestic airlines, discount airline VIRGIN BLUE entered the domestic market. The following year came the collapse of ANSETT and, just about a year ago, QANTAS launched its low-cost subsidiary JETSTAR.
The new budget airlines have stirred up the domestic airfare market considerably. With ever cheaper airfares on offer, we’re certainly benefiting from the increased competition. But is everyone happy getting cheaper fares at the expense of service? Or can we get a discount fare and good service?
To find out how satisfied people are with the major domestic airlines, we asked a group of subscribers who’d taken at least one domestic flight within the past 12 months about their experiences of the airlines generally and of their last flight — see the tables below for more. Thanks to all of you who took part in the survey, and for your valuable comments.
In brief
VIRGIN BLUE clearly beat its budget rival JETSTAR in our survey of customer satisfaction with the major domestic airlines.
The main gripes? For JETSTAR, no seat allocation and the 30-minute check-in closure policy. For QANTAS, the difficulty of using Frequent Flyer points. For VIRGIN BLUE, very little, although the friendly and ‘different’ staff praised by most people were ‘a bit much’ for some.
In February this year we invited over 5000 CHOICE and CHOICE Online subscribers to take part in an online survey if they’d flown with one of the four major domestic airlines in the previous 12 months. Just over 500 returned completed questionnaires. Thanks to all of you. We asked respondents to:
Rate the major domestic airlines (JETSTAR, QANTAS, (REGIONAL EXPRESS (REX) and VIRGIN BLUE) — see Table 1 (below) for the results.
Rate individual aspects of their most recent flight: comfort, service, punctuality, etc — see Table 2 (below) for results. We’ve only printed ratings for JETSTAR, QANTAS and VIRGIN BLUE, as REX had insufficient responses.
Although 44 of our respondents had flown with REX in the past year, only 11 had chosen it for their most recent flight.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Responses
In both tables the number in brackets after each airline’s name is the number of people who reported on it.
The majority of respondents were 35 and over; 59% were men. Around four in 10 lived in either Sydney or Melbourne, and the trip between these cities was the most common route flown. Almost two thirds had flown for private reasons, one third were business trips (more for QANTAS). Around two thirds of trips (fewer for QANTAS) were booked over the internet.
Table 1
Survey respondents’ overall rating (%) based on their experience over the previous 12 months
REGIONAL EXPRESS (REX) (44) 71
VIRGIN BLUE (276) 68
QANTAS (373) 67
JETSTAR (106) 47
Table 2
Satisfaction with individual aspects of respondents' last flight
Airline (in alphabetical order) Jetstar (43) Qantas (271) Virgin Blue (166)
Convenience of flight (time / day, %) 62 71 75
Check-in procedure (%) 54 75 80
Punctual departure (%) 60 67 74
Seat location (%) 38 67 74
Seat comfort (%) 48 58 63
Legroom (%) 34 52 56
Food (%) 39 (A) 52 55 (A)
Inflight service (%) 49 (A) 60 69 (A)
Entertainment (%) 25 (A) 54 (A) 49 (A)
Cleanliness (%) 64 69 75
Toilet facilities (%) 59 (A) 61 (A) 67 (A)
Punctual arrival (%) 65 69 75
Baggage handling (%) 62 69 76
Value for money (%) 64 60 82
Table notes
(A) Not all respondents rated this aspect, probably because not everyone bought food, used an entertainment option or visited the toilet during the flight.
This article last reviewed June 2005
Service and seating
Cheerful service a winner
Of the two budget rivals, VIRGIN BLUE clearly beat JETSTAR in our survey, with a more than 20% difference in overall rating. Table 1, gives the overall ratings our survey respondents awarded the domestic airlines they’d flown with in the previous 12 months: JETSTAR, QANTAS, REGIONAL EXPRESS REX and VIRGIN BLUE.
There’s no marked difference between REX, VIRGIN BLUE and QANTAS in the overall ratings, but when reporting on their last flight, our survey respondents rated VIRGIN BLUE better than both QANTAS and JETSTAR, and for almost all the individual aspects we asked them about — see Table 2, for details. (We didn’t have enough responses for REX to include it in this table.) Many were particularly impressed with VIRGIN BLUE’s ‘different’ approach to service, commenting along the lines of:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Very friendly and down-to-earth attitude, which was a nice change.”
“Love the customer service, focus on fun.”
“Quite satisfactory and enjoyable due to the antics of the flight crew.”
Criticisms of VIRGIN BLUE were few and far between, with only a small number commenting negatively on the airline’s ‘fresh’ approach to customer service:
“The ‘cute’ approach, clearly popular with a younger market, is a bit much for me.” “They sometimes talk to you as if you’re kids.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The only aspect for which VIRGIN BLUE was rated slightly lower than QANTAS was entertainment. That’s not surprising, really, as none of the budget airlines provides free headphones. But VIRGIN BLUE sells reusable headphones for $2.50 (JETSTAR, too, for $3, on its Airbus flights) and is looking to provide, from July this year, TV (in conjunction with Foxtel) for an extra $5.
VIRGIN BLUE is well aware that it’s the staff that make the airline. “We wanted to make the flying environment friendlier than people here in Australia had become used to and put the fun back into flying,” said VIRGIN BLUE spokesperson Amanda Bolger. “Other airlines can’t replicate our service and culture.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unallocated seating cops flak
JETSTAR got the thumbs-down from our survey respondents who, on average, only awarded the airline a 47% overall rating and the lowest ratings for almost all aspects we surveyed (the exception was value for money).
While some people commented positively on JETSTAR’s staff, the fact that you don’t get an allocated seat, and that check-in closes half an hour before departure, raised the ire of many survey respondents. The quotes below are representative of many we received along similar lines:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Their ticketing system of lining up to get seats on a plane is ludicrous — a family of four hardly ever gets seats together. Their new system of colour-coding for progression onto the plane has only helped marginally … I flew three times with JETSTAR last year and … I’ll never fly with them again.”
“The strict 30-minute check-in policy is inflexible and signifies the inability to provide a friendly service. If you miss the 30-minute check-in you’re forced to upgrade to a full fare [on a later flight]. That’s very customer-unfriendly and I’ll always make every attempt to avoid this airline in future.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
According to JETSTAR, the unallocated seating system is a cost-saving measure, used by many airlines worldwide, which also provides for increased efficiency and faster turnaround. Spokesperson Simon Westaway said families with young children are among those allowed to board first; and families with older children should still be able to sit together if they check in early (and so qualify for an earlier-boarding colour code).
On JETSTAR’s check-in closure 30 minutes before departure, Mr Westaway said the earlier closure was in line with the airline’s focus on on-time performance. Industry statistics confirm the airline’s better performance (than QANTAS and VIRGIN BLUE) for on-time departures and arrivals. If someone did miss their flight, Mr Westaway said, they could get on a later JETSTAR flight, if a seat was available, by paying a change fee. Depending on the situation, JETSTAR might also charge for any fare difference. Some survey respondents were also unimpressed with JETSTAR’s food, inflight service and entertainment, three aspects which some simply marked as ‘not applicable’ (for both budget airlines), probably because they didn’t buy food or headphones, or because they didn’t care:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“No reclining seat or audio, but that’s not necessary for a one or two-hour flight.”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bearing in mind that a relatively large number of survey respondents were unhappy with their last flight with JETSTAR, it comes as no surprise that 52% of the JETSTAR passengers in our survey said they’d choose a different airline if they had to fly to the same destination again, compared with just 16% of VIRGIN BLUE and 9% of QANTAS flyers.
This article last reviewed June 2005
Loyal travellers
Considering its long history on the Australian domestic airline market, it’s hardly surprising that the majority of our respondents (just over half) had chosen to fly QANTAS on their last flight (a third had flown with VIRGIN BLUE and 9% with JETSTAR, which was only launched in May last year).
“I’ve never experienced any difficulties or problems and rate QANTAS very highly because this has been the case for a long period of time.”
Others simply appreciated the “maturity of the cabin crew”, or the trimmings and service a full-service carrier provides:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On the whole, though, our national carrier’s ratings for most aspects of the respondents’ last flight were lower than VIRGIN BLUE’s, and quite a number of people in our survey had criticisms about flying QANTAS domestically. The reasons for frustration ranged from what was described as low-quality food, over the perceived difference in treatment people experienced when flying business and economy class, to the difficulty of redeeming frequent flyer points (see Sandra of Mountain Creek's comments). Comments included:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------