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United Ranked Worst of Majors by WSJ

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Old Jan 28, 2024, 1:06 am
  #1  
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United Ranked Worst of Majors by WSJ

Dropped from 4th to 6th, behind DL, AS, WN, AA, and even Allegiant. Mainly due to cancelled flights and tarmac delays, though I doubt the rating would improve if "quality of onboard service" was a criterion. But hey - we beat out B6 and Spirit!

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/travel...hare_permalink

Last edited by Boraxo; Jan 28, 2024 at 10:45 am
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 2:45 am
  #2  
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I'll be the first to say it....not surprised at all!

-RM
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 4:03 am
  #3  
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Bloody outrageous.

Ok, I'll give you DL and AS. Good operators. Although DL should be rebranded Amex Air.

Who or What is an Allegient? Dreadful company. About as reliable as a condom with a hole in it.

And seriously, WN??? Anytime a snowflake hits the ground, WN cancel everything, run around screaming and blame everyone but themselves. Then they all hold hands and sing Kumbaya in their underwear.

I'm off to cancel my subscription to the WSJ...
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 5:02 am
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I wasn't surprised that UA fell. I had way too many cancellations last year. But Allegiant and SW?
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 5:50 am
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I'm sure the June meltdown contributed to this.
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 6:07 am
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I was surprised by the rankings. UA is definitely better than AA in my experiences in recent years. Hard to really believe Allegiant is better by any measure.
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 6:16 am
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I’d love to see the question matrix, size of the field and time frame of the survey.
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Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 28, 2024 at 12:00 pm Reason: Removed non-UA topic comment
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 7:47 am
  #8  
 
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Originally Posted by Dublin_rfk
I’d love to see the question matrix, size of the field and time frame of the survey.
Here is the methodology. Quibble with it if you wish (I’m sure we all could) but it appears to be from public data anyone could recreate the results from easily? If so, it’s just math .

“We rank nine major U.S. airlines on seven equally weighted operations metrics: on-time arrivals, flight cancellations, extreme delays, baggage handling, tarmac delays, involuntary bumping and complaints. (Hawaiian Airlines is excluded given its regional niche.)…The first three measures cover the calendar year. They are provided by Pulse, a data platform from Anuvu, an aviation company. The rest, provided by the Transportation Department, cover the most recent 12-month period available and begin in October or November 2022. The exception is complaints, where the DOT has a major backlog, so those figures cover a seven-month period ended in May.” (Source: WSJ)

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 28, 2024 at 12:01 pm Reason: Updated quote based on Moderator edit
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 8:31 am
  #9  
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Originally Posted by TallTexan
Here is the methodology. Quibble with it if you wish (I’m sure we all could) but it appears to be from public data anyone could recreate the results from easily? If so, it’s just math rather than “shoddy work” on the WSJ’s part IMHO.
Yep. The numbers don't lie. The weighting can be debated as can drawing larger conclusions based on the stats, but based on these specific statistics it was not a good year for UA.

It actually corresponds with my subjective rankings (based mostly on other factors), where I place UA fourth out of the four domestic carriers I regularly fly in terms of preference.
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Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 28, 2024 at 12:01 pm Reason: Removed non-UA topic comment
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 8:45 am
  #10  
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Not surprising. UA’s mgt is not interested in customer satisfaction because whatever they do … folks still fly them. As such, this ranking will have no impact whatsoever
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 8:48 am
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I must have really lucked out last year not having any real problems. In any case it doesn’t matter since my company has a contract with UA so I’m stuck whether my experiences are good or bad.
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 8:51 am
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I must have lucked out as well - flying cross-country every week, never had a delay or cancellation that I recall. Service was great overall and the wifi worked 95% of the time.
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 8:57 am
  #13  
 
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This "ranking" lost its validity with me when Allegiant beat out UA.
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 9:07 am
  #14  
 
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Originally Posted by Dublin_rfk
Shoddy work like this is one reason I don’t have a subscription to the WSJ. I’d love to see the question matrix, size of the field and time frame of the survey.
I can quibble with the results of this article, I think AA is terrible from my personal experience, but the WSJ is the best in a sea of garbage reporting.

Last edited by WineCountryUA; Jan 28, 2024 at 12:00 pm Reason: Removed non-UA topic comment
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Old Jan 28, 2024, 10:02 am
  #15  
 
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United consistently provides terrible service. I doubt the CEO has any idea how to fix it, as it’s so ingrained in the United culture. I’m sure that upper management is far more focused on fleet mix decisions, negotiating union contracts, optimizing O/D pairs and new routes, maximizing their government contracts and CRAF revenue, etc.

To ask a question, as the CEO of United, how would improve United’s service levels?
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