Etihad withdraws from Skytrax
 

So Etihad has announced it is withdrawing from the Skytrax ratings and awards, citing it is suspicious of Skytrax' impartiality. Is it only because they came in behind Qatar and Emirates, or do they have a point with their criticism?

Here is one of the articles announcing Etihad's departure:
http://www.arabianbusiness.com/etiha...ds-553188.html

Finally an airline with the guts to stand up to the scam!!

In my opinion, SkyTrax is a joke and their ratings carry no value.

I too applaud the airline for standing up for itself. I've never taken Skytrax ratings seriousely and have always had my own reservations about its impartiality and frankly why it even exists.

Beside skytrax, do you guys use another website for reference? I used some airlines which rated 4* but IMO, it probably worth max 3* if not 2*.

Just the word of mouth (usually from this forum and other blogs) and past experiences.

I always found skytrax to be useless so good on EY.

I've never quite understood the sychophancy over Qatar particularly when compared to say, Cathay or Singapore.

Although for self-serving sickly sweetness it's not quite as bad as this wonderful example of what I assume is nothing but freeloading, http://www.sevenstarsandstripes.com

I've never used Skytrax but who would be more reliable JD Power or Skytrax lol ?

Isnt SkyTrax where an airline has to pay to "belong"?
This is why AirKoryo is 1* - they dont pay the fee. I can tell you they are certainly better in flight than some of the so-called 3* airlines.

And when Air Canada was promoted to 4* - SkyTrax really showed how corrupt the ranking system is

Why?

(Serious question, I don't know)

Because they are nowhere close to being in the same league as EY or EK for example.

My experience with EY is well below what my EK experiences have been flight wise and had a lot of aggravation with their FF program on top of Abu Dhabi being a substandard airport and immigration access in to Abu Dhabi being much less convenient than Dubai. I don't pay any attention to Skytrax or other ranking services I pick airlines for schedule and convenience but if Etihad thinks they are unfairly rated then maybe they need to rethink their position and deliver better performance.

Skytrax is definitely not an exact science, and some ratings are head-scratchers. But in general, I seems that it gives sort of a gauge of an airline/airline industry.

Hopefully EY is not sour-graping on not being 5* - because they're not in the league of SQ and CX. IMHO, most of the 5*s do deserve to be so, like NH, SQ, CX, QR, OZ - they truly are the best in the industry. But MH, seriously? (I'm a regular MH customer, and flights are mostly good, but arguing that they are 5* is pushing it). BA, EY, EK, TG and most on the list are solid 4*s, but KL, CZ and AC as 4*, really???? Majority of the airlines are on the 3* list, and deserve to be there...

Anyway, I don't care much about ratings, as I tend to stick to my usual airlines. But I'm sure it influences the decisions of some people, especially non-frequent flyers.

I believe Skytrax ratings be very accurate. EY was probably just burnt.

Why?

If EY believes they are unfairly rated, then this is both unnecessary, and also unlikely to lead to a better Skytrax rating.