i think that depends on which side of the bars you reside. personally i think prison guards do a great job!

since you are in a non-hub city, it's easy to say that there is a lot of competition. but for those of us in a hub, our options are much more limited. yes there is competition, but it's not "apples to apples" so to speak. yes those of us in hub cities are used to nonstops and our "competition" is a connection.

i've used competition to change my local phone service, electric and natural gas providers, and moved from cable to satellite. and in each case, i get better service, at a lower price. and i don't have to complete any extra steps to use the competitors product.

when it comes to airline competiton, i will need to pay the same (or slightly higher) price, and spend more time travelling due to the connection on the "competitor".

but the competition will never come from the majors, it takes using the startups to keep some type of "fare competition" going.

And despite all those 100 change fees, what business offers you so much for free...upgrades, free trips, etc, etc, etc, an undending cornucopia of goodies and when one little bit goes missing everyone acts like they just got spit on. It is amazing the disconnect that exists in the frequent flyer world. Yes, the airlines offer all the goodies as a marketing ploy, nonetheless, what other industry offers so many bribes (particularly if business is paying and you are pocketing the goodies though I realize this is not always the case). Aren't the perks of FF considered part of 'customer service' or is the only thing to notice the linen you didn't get in the first class cabin you didn't pay to upgrade to. Particulary post 911 I find it amazing no one has reexamined that airlines are businesses and have to work making a profit into their plans for serving your every whim while not charging you for it.

jeez, amazing...

This post in response to this thread, as well as a general response to the constant carping for yet another bennie and the totally worn out argument that you'll bolt for another airline unless the third hot towel service isn't instantly returned to the SFO-SMF service.

I can be as critical of the airlines as anyone, but isn't it expected of the critical person to have a peek from the other point of view on occasion?

In general, without even going outside of the travel industry, I find rental car customer service to be much worse than the airlines and hotels to be worse than the airlines.

In my area, AT&T Broadband is the only cable provider, and I'm stuck with them because I can't get reception for anything else. AT&T has very poor customer service - wait times can be in excess of an hour and a service call can take up to 5 days - and they are raising the rate again.

I'd have to agree. If customer is defined as the one who pays for the product or service, then we taxpayers on the outside are the customers.

Least customer-friendly? Hmm. I'd have to say American Express (credit cards) and SBC (telecom).

I'm in a hub city. And believe me, there is plenty of competition. Yeah, UAL's got their hub at Dulles. But it's not like they are the only airline flying out of there. I've got plenty of options and choices despite being in a hub city. I think the folks in Chicago do as well.

If you live in a major city, you've got a lot of choices, unlike most of us when it comes to the phone service or something like that. I can choose among virtually all the major airlines but when it comes to the phone service, it's just Verizon.

How about major league baseball. They have been blackmailing the fans that pay the bills and local government to build expensive stadiums that do nothing for the game, only for the owners bottom line. Now they've come up with contraction, which is the ultimate blackmail ploy. The fan is caught right in the middle in the ongoing labor strife between the owners and the players union. My team, the Minnesota Twins who drew 1.7 million fans this year, and who were in the pennant race until the last week, will soon be a thing of the past. This isn't bad customer service, this is way beyond that. This is extortion.

I'm a big fan of Consumer Reports and if I remember correctly they rated the worst service providers (presumably taking into account cost and quality) as:
home improvements and home repairs
car repairs
long distance telephone and cell phone providers, and
airlines

One of their negatives with cell phone providers was the way that one is billed. You have a "Plan" and get billed accordingly. Get ready for big $$ if you go over your time limit.

I think now I'd have to vote for the phone companies - they've tried to slam me several times, have screwed around with my billing, put me on hold for (and I actually timed this one) 90 minutes (thank goodness for speakerphone) or other long periods several times.

But about 10 years ago I would have voted for cable. I think this story takes the cake.... My grandmother used to live in a log cabin (yes, built in 1860 rural CT) that was on our property, right near the big family house. She had a separate cable account into the cabin. When she died, we wanted to disconnect the cable and then rent out the cabin. My mother, just 8 days after her mother's death, went to the local cable company, with the box, to cancel service and return the accoutrements. After my mother said she wanted to cancel the service, the cablevision employee said "only the person's whose name is on bill may cancel service, Mrs. XX will have to come in herself to cancel" My mother replied "I'm sorry but she is deceased, I am her daughter and executor, please cancel the service" Now get this, the employee replied "I'm sorry to hear that she is dead but she will have to come in a cancel the service herself" My mother had no clue how to react. After trying for several minutes to explain that my grandmother was dead and therefore could not come in, and the employee saying she understood but would have to speak to my grandmother about it, my mother finally turned in a circle and said, "OK, I am Mrs. XX and would like to cancel my service." The employee let her sign my grandmother's name and cancel the service. My mother was livid about this for 3 days (and my mother did NOT have a temper which I why it is still vivid in my mind)

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I Love New York

AT&T Broadband's customer service has convinced me go without cable until the Sopranos come back on. At that point, I may, may get a dish. Or continue to be without channnels.

I find long distance companies to suck mightily also.

Airlines are hit and miss.

I'm surprised no one has vented about home improvement contractors yet. FWIW, I have DirecTV (soon to be EchoStar, I imagine), MCI and Sprint PCS and am happy as a clam. I've also noticed better treatment as AA Gold rather than plain old AA. Maybe I'm just easy to please. But don't get me started on home improvement contractors...

I'm going to have to put my vote in for the on-line porn industry, at least the way that "prospective customers" are treated. If you've ever accidently stumbled across a site that's so rife with resizing browser windows, pop ups, and other java annoyances that it's impossible to leave, you know what I mean.

(And yet, somehow, they make money).

Well, unlike online porn, in dealing with cable, phone, and airline cos, the customer actually does often wind up getting f**ked