British Airways No Longer A [Skytrax] Four Star Airline?
 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4572010/BA-set-lose-four-star-quality-rating.html

after seeing so many awful reviews on skytrax I always wondered if/when this would happen!

BA hasn't been a 4* airline for quite a while so it's high time that Skytrax update their ranking. I doubt it will serve as a wake-up call to the board, but we live in hope....

Just the ranking catching up with reality that we all recognise

Skytrax rankings are a bit suspect anyway....

I agree, I'd not trust it to make the decision of what airline I'd travel with for me, I fly often enough to make my own decision, but I guess it can help infrequent travellers in conjunction with other factors such as flight times etc.

Incidentally, it is a repeat article from other papers that have already covered this over the weekend and discussed in other threads on hereZ

Yes, the rankings are suspect but BA plays in the airline ratings and awards playground along with many others, so it's fair game.

Maybe give it a 3.5* rating.

Short haul it categorically isn't 4* in any shape or form. For long haul the 4* rating might be more justifiable, at least if you're a higher level status holder travelling in a business or first cabin.

Anyway, comparing BA peer airlines in the 3* listing, either they are ranked too low or BA's ranking is too high.

They are dodgy alright .. They gave Aer Lingus a 4 star rating .. ask any of their FF's how they feel

Yes - foisting Avios onto us hasn't been a success, yet.

But - and I will be accused of a lack of objectivity here - but especially now that BA has adopted EI's model of no-frills flying on shorthaul, I know which I would prefer flying on. (I find EI's biz class hard product and more personable service to be far better than BA's tired Club World).

there was an article in the Sunday Times to the same effect - that BA is about to be downgraded from 4 star to 3 star on skytrax.

Why do people give so much credence to this company and their 'awards' ?

They've had advertising standards authority rulings against them for starters.

They do actually deserve 3 stars for most of my experiences within WT/WT+ along with CE/CW/F , i wish they a official Skytrax ranking system as it is right now but then add a traveller voted star ranking system.

Iberia have 3 stars and I've had good flights with them. Why do Emirates only have 4? Did they stop giving Skytrax backhanders?

Well Willie and Alex want consistency across IAG- so a BA downgrade is clearly a step in the right direction :)

Whilst I agree that Skytrax needs to be taken with a massive pinch of salt, my gut feel tells me that 3 stars is about right for BA. Also, whatever dubious criteria they may use, it's fair to say that this won't have come out of nothing, nor will many people disagree.

BA deserves to be downgraded to 3 star for all the cuts and bad service it has been providing for the last year or so. You need to look at all bad reviews they get on airlinequality.com. Most of the scores are around 2 or 3 out of 10.

Because while obviously not completely unbiased, they do tend to bear some relation to what people experience in reality. And this seems to be a very good example of where a change in the ranking is very well correlated with what is happening in reality. In fairness, the best airlines are ranked highest, and the poorer ones are ranked lowest, and I've never seen anyone present any actual evidence they can be bought.

People can complain as much as they like, but BA cannot be surprised by this. And whatever people think of Skytrax it does influence people as the most accessible airline ranking so is something airlines should be aware of. I read that LH for example had a specific plan to raise their ranking, and yes it involved service improvements, not paying off skytrax ;)

Yes but review sites themselves should be taken with a pinch of NaCl. More reliable to go with your own experience if you can and maybe discuss with some well informed fellow travellers you trust (perhaps on here)