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Poll: Have you ever passed up the cheapest airfare to avoid a bad airline?
People love to complain about the dismal state of air travel these days. Whether it's the stomach-churning airline food (and there's so little of it!), the complete lack of leg room, or the fact that your luggage was for some reason routed through Honolulu, we've come to expect some pretty poor service from quite a few airlines these days.
In any other industry, customers register their indignation by refusing to spend money at the offending establishment. Found a finger in your Caesar's Salad? You're probably never visiting that restaurant again. Tired of your cable cutting out in the middle of House? You just might cancel that company's service and call up their competitor (who'll probably even throw in a year of Starz at no extra charge!)
But with airlines, we're like the pathetic girlfriend who's been cheated on five times but still believes her boyfriend when he says, "Seriously, this time will be different! I've changed!" The worst airlines stay in business because by and large people are willing to put up with crummy service if it means they get a cheap flight.
I mean, imagine you've just done a search on Kayak for a flight from San Diego to Boston departing on November 4 and returning on the 15th. The lowest fare shows up as $228, but it's with an airline that's burned you in the past. (Let's call them Cut-Rate Airlines.) This is an airline that's arrived to its destination late almost half the time you've flown with them. They've lost your bags twice, and both times they shipped them to you two days later. Their food stinks and the flight attendants have never been especially pleasant either.
Fortunately, there's an almost identical flight aboard Pleasant Air, a carrier you've flown with a dozen times without any problems. But that flight costs $288, sixty dollars more than the flight on Cut-Rate. So what do you do?
I'm interested in this question because as much as people love to complain about airlines, especially those incompetent bastards at [insert bad airline here], I usually find that people prefer the lowest airfare to paying more to fly with an airline with better service.
So, Gadling readers, am I wrong? Can airlines continue to treat their passengers like crap as long as they offer low fares? Make your voice heard in the poll below-- or in the Comments.
Filed under: Airlines, Airports, Consumer Activism, Airline Reviews
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
mahka42 Nov 3rd 2009 2:37PM
I think sometimes that this is the demise of airlines these days. I know I've since scrapped airlines like Southwest and AirTran from my lists because I got tired of cattle-call seating and pretzels in my seat with those 20 minute turntimes. I don't care if Delta is 80 bucks more if I know that I get to choose my seat ahead of time and have a clean plane.
charline Nov 3rd 2009 3:53PM
some airlines treat you so poorly, i would rather sit in the middle seat in the last row between a screaming baby and a person eating garlic fries and fried fish than fly some airlines because of poor customer service...i'm not going to name airlines, but my personal airline at the top of the "do not fly" list rhymes with "Smelta"...
Ron Nov 4th 2009 1:56AM
Fare is not the only factor in airline choice and airline behavior is probably the last factor. For example, consider that in some big cities, airport location is almost more important than fare. Sometimes it's just better to fly United if you live near O'hare rather than trudge down to Midway to fly Southwest or other discount guys.
If you have to spend almost $50 more on plane tickets to/from the big airport compared with the closer in smaller airport, even if it's more a more expensive fare on the plane, the cab rides to and from the airport might be cheaper and then you're also closer to where you want to be.
But sometimes, we stick with a bad airline because it's just inconvenient to get to the places that the good airlines go. (Like choosing Milwaukee instead of Midway or something. It's not really a choice.)
Some canadians (from toronto) choose to drive over the border to catch domestic flights out of Buffalo rather than use the most expensive airport with a REALLY long immigration line when you go back to Canada.
The flight is usually also cheaper in that option as well.
maria Nov 5th 2009 5:48PM
I only fly Jet Blue... regardless if I find another one cheaper. I flew one time with them and I have been hooked ever since. My loalty is so great that I dont even bother to look at any other fares. Why would I? I have never had any problems so far (knock on wood). But my parents are completely different they pick solely based on price. They have flown on bad airlines just because it was cheaper and had a horrible time, but they continue to do it.
Edith Spencer Nov 4th 2009 7:44PM
After my experience with JetBlue ( yeah, I'm naming names) I will never go with the cheapest fare ever again. Lufthansa (when it flies from PDX) is a wonderful airline. So is Northwest Airlines,and Icelandair was a really great way to reach Britain from the Northwest Coast.
Chris Nov 4th 2009 11:50PM
I've paid more to not fly on Air Canada...Worst airline ever.
WanderingGnomeNY Nov 5th 2009 3:25PM
I've paid more to avoid flying the airlines on my "no fly zone" (Delta tops that list!)
I generally fly Southwest because its simple, cheap, and I've never had a single problem. I also love the fact that I can change my flights every 10 minutes if I want to and never get charged anything except the fare difference
Nick Nov 8th 2009 2:30PM
Considering that a lot of people I know always prefer the lower fare over better quality (myself included!), I was surprised by the poll results above - Gadling readers obviously seem to prefer the other way around.
But Aaron, there's one other factor that plays out here which you did not mention - the airline frequent flier programs. Except perhaps business fliers (who use many different carriers a lot), I presume most folks would probably have a flying history (and thus a credit buildup of some kind) with one, or at most two airlines that has developed over time. For example, I used to love fyling one particular airline, stuck to it alone, and managed to build up a lot of reward points (miles) and also got myself a co-branded credit card. However, their service is now deteriorating and I dont like flying it any more, but if I shift to someone else, I will have to build my flying history with them from the scratch in order to be able to harvest a few freebie fruits - which will obviously take a long time!!
Jimmy Nov 8th 2009 7:06PM
We fly to Asia every year from NY. Usually China Airlines has the lowest fare. I flew with once and will never do so again. Their planes are old and rickety, and the service, and food totally SUCK!
I usually pay $ 200-300.00 more to fly with Cathay Pacific instead. It's like comparing a fleabag welfare motel to a Hilton.
David Nov 8th 2009 7:15PM
There are no more good airlines, everything is ala carte. I have flown all airlines to and from Costa Rica for 7 yrs. They all just keep getting worse.
Jet Blue has the lowest fares, I guess better than most airways!
Kelsey Nov 9th 2009 2:02PM
I myself prefer Alaska Airlines and Delta (I've heard Southwest has superb service, but as they have no hub in my state, I haven't had the chance to fly them yet).
I'm finding though that it really depends on the situation. In mine, it's financial. I do have more frequent flier miles built up on my favorite airlines, but I have to be economical and consider the lowest fare first, regardless of all the stories floating around out there about what horrible customer service A or B airline did to A or B customer. If the airline gets me to my destination on the cheapest price...so be it.
This holiday season i'll definitely be missing Delta and Alaska though!