Rankings can be manipulated , contrived by tricks, by buying etc. For a person not as cynical as we Fters are they mean a lot. People often pick a higher ranking choice absent first hand choice/ knowledge thinking " it is rated higher by my peers. In this case the "halo effect" goes a long way, advertising rights are a big plus ( how many adverts do we see claiming "best in class" etc ?). Survey companies like J D Power do not charge anything for spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to survey CUSTOMER Satisfaction with product X ( say autos). They make their money for a company to use their name in adverts and sor sharing their survey details with manufacturers / sellers etc. Look at the rankings of Insurance Institute's car safety rankings.....long term reliability etc. Do they impact the buying decisions ?
We are "trained" to look at and lend credence to such rankings......Ultimately there is no guarantee how credible most survey results are given we do not know who replied and their biases.
If the day ever comes when BA improves to be in the top five, you will see a stance crowing about it .