Most fliers unhappy at lousy service: Survey
India's flying public is becoming increasingly frustrated with the nation's airlines, according to a survey undertaken for Bloomberg, saying that customer service and the behaviour of airline staff has deteriorated sharply in the wake of
Covid-19.
Some 79 per cent of the
15,000 airline passengers surveyed by LocalCircles said they believe carriers in India are compromising on passenger comfort and cutting corners as a result of the pandemic, souring the reopening of what was prior to Covid the world's fastest-growing aviation market.
Topping respondents' list of airlines whose service was deemed most unsatisfactory was SpiceJet Ltd, followed by the country's biggest airline with a 55 per cent market share, IndiGo. Complaints across all airlines included flight delays, shoddy in-flight service, bad boarding procedures and tatty aircraft interiors.
SpiceJet said it is prioritising automation, technology and sustainability to improve customers' experience. IndiGo said it is also focusing on digitization to give customers a contactless travel experience, noting that using technology at check-in to boarding and beyond has helped it reduce wait times at airports.
The results come as Indian carriers find themselves on the receiving end of a degree of backlash from passengers. In one recent high-profile incident, IndiGo barred a disabled teenager from boarding a flight, saying the boy was causing a disturbance and could pose a safety threat.
In another video that recently went viral a woman is seen suffering a panic attack after Air India, now under the management of Tata Group, prevented her from boarding, saying she arrived after the gate shut.
While many airlines and airports around the world have been caught short by a quicker-than-expected rebound in travel as pandemic prevention rules are loosened and Covid testing falls away, Indian carriers—notorious for their cut-throat fares— are particularly struggling.
The nation has a vast domestic market and lured by still-cheap tickets, customers have surged back to airports in their tens of millions, stretching an aviation workforce depleted and weakened by one of the world's worst Covid outbreaks. At the same time, spiralling fuel expenses have burdened balance sheets just as airlines are trying to add capacity.
As demand rushes back, meeting passenger expectations in a world where people are being told to live with the virus has become harder. Some are finicky about sanitisation standards or not eating onboard while others rail against wearing a mask all the time. Fatigued cabin crew can end up taking out their frustrations in a counterproductive way. "Airlines don't have a playbook for customer service because customer preferences have changed and they're still clutching at straws trying to figure out what the customer wants," said Ajay Awtaney, editor of aviation website LiveFromALounge.com.
Widespread staff shortages and disgruntled labour forces aren't helping. While airlines are trying to recruit more crew, the reality is they won't be able to do so at the pace demand is rebounding, Awtaney said.