As happy as travelers are to find cheap airplane tickets and discount hotel rooms, they are upset at being charged to check bags and dealing with rude staff, according to a Consumer Reports survey of 2,000 Americans asked to rank their travel complaints.
Those surveyed were asked to rank their complaints regarding airlines, hotels, and rental car companies. Although baggage fees ranked highest as an irritant, other fees (note this was an issue for all three travel industries), and rude or unhelpful staff behavior were identified as major concerns as well.
Clearly the best way today to annoy airline passengers is to charge for luggage.
Interestingly, poll respondents said that lack of information concerning airline delays was more frustrating than the actual delays. Passengers were also aggravated by fellow airline passengers who take more than their perceived fair share of seat space and/or carry-on space.
Airline passengers indicated they understood the reason for waiting in long line at security check in points and the absence of snacks on flights.
There was a marked difference in annoyance levels between the sexes and generations of those who participated in the survey. Women were more upset than men by pricey hotel room snacks, insufficient bedding, and aggressive rental car staff pushing upgrades. Older passengers were less patient with poorly behaved children on airplanes.
Perhaps the cheapest, more important, takeaway of this survey for the travel industry is to train and convince their staffs to be helpful and polite. Given airlines creativity when it comes to charging new fees, maybe the day will come when they will charge passengers willing to pay for courteous customer representatives.
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