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The Anglo-American poet W.H. Auden once said: “Thou shalt not sit with statisticians nor commit a social science”. Auden may have been right in many respects but I would say we could make an exception for consumer surveys.

In November 2010, German consumer organisations conducted a passenger survey on how airlines dealt with Air Passenger Rights. The full survey (in German) can be found here.

The results did not come as a surprise (and also confirmed that social sciences often confirm what we already know but formulate it in a more sophisticated way). 

The survey showed the lack of compliance with the Regulation by many if not most airlines. The most striking conclusions were:

• a large majority of airlines ignores the obligation to provide care and compensation;
• only 25% of the airlines offers compensation, mostly only after a passenger’s request;
• more than 50% of the passengers was not informed of their rights;
• most airlines respond very slowly to requests;
• 22% of passengers did not receive an answer from the airline;
• only 3% of the cases ran smoothly for passengers.

The outcome of the survey suggests that many airlines boycott European legislation or at least do not take it seriously. This goes for many if not most obligations airlines have under the Regulation.

Considering the consistency of passengers’ experiences, it is likely that this is not a matter of poor management but part of the airlines’ corporate policies. Policies directed from the boardrooms. Designed to satisfy shareholders, inevitably to the detriment of air passengers rights.

On a positive note, the survey also brings to light that there must be one or two airlines that take passengers rights seriously. It would be very useful if new Air Passenger Rights surveys would no longer look at the airline industry as a whole but at how airlines perform individually. This would be of great help to passengers when choosing which airline to fly.

Thinking about this, I’m actually quite happy to sit with statisticians and commit a social science.

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