For those who use Skytrax and www.airlinequality.com

[Globaliser]

Some of you may know that within the industry, Skytrax's reputation is not high. There are all sorts of rumours about the way they do things, including suggestions made by some people that the rating or any award given to an airline is influenced by the amount that airlines spend on advertising through Skytrax. Of course, it's a bit of a dilemma because Skytrax is undoubtedly influential on the general public, so airlines won't necessarily not advertise just because they think that Skytrax is unreliable, and airlines won't refuse to publicise awards that they've won - either step might be cutting off their noses to spite their faces.

 

However, an independent window has been opened onto Skytrax in the form of an investigation by the UK's Advertising Standards Authority of a complaint about Skytrax. The ASA in effect has the power to ban advertising methods or statements if they are misleading or do not comply with the relevant Advertising Code of the Committee of Advertising Practice.

 

The ASA's ruling held as follows (full text available at that link). (Or, in other words, read and use this site at your own risk.)

Background

Summary of Council decision: Five issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld.

 

Ad

The Skytrax Research airline review website http://www.airlinequality.com, viewed in May 2012, provided an airline rating system and customer reviews for airlines and airports. Underneath the headline "Checked and Trusted Airline Reviews, in the world's largest airline review site" were links which stated "Over 5 million Trusted customer reviews and trip reports for 681 airlines and 725 airports" and "Official Quality Star Ranking for hundreds of airlines around the world". Clicking on the first link opened a page which stated "More than 5 million independent, traveller reviews and customer trip ratings ... REAL travellers with REAL opinions!" Clicking on the Quality Star Ranking link opened a page which stated "SKYTRAX introduced the World Airline Star Rating® programme in 2000 ... The Star Ranking programme operates in a real-time analysis format, to ensure that Airline Star Ranking levels are constantly maintained and adjusted in accordance with changes made by an airline, be this to product or service standards - on average, each airline's Star Ranking is reviewed in depth every 2-3 months, and adjusted in accordance with the annual ratings". Links to various Star Rating categories were featured underneath. Clicking on the link entitled "The World's 5-Star Airlines" brought up a page which stated "TRADEMARK PROTECTION - The titles below are protected by Skytrax, and can only be used by a Registered 5-Star Airline with consent of Skytrax". The titles listed were "5 Star Airline", "5 Star Airlines", "Five Star Airline" and "Five Star Airlines".

 

Issue

KwikChex Ltd challenged whether:

1. the claims "Checked and trusted airline reviews" and "REAL travellers with REAL opinions!" were misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood that Skytrax did not verify the reviews on their website and therefore could not prove that they were genuine;
2. the claim "More than 5 million independent, traveller reviews and customer trip ratings" was misleading and could be substantiated;
3. the claim "Official Quality Star Ranking" was misleading, because it suggested that the ranking system was official and not the advertiser's own creation;
4. the claim "The Star Ranking programme operates in a real-time analysis format, to ensure that Airline Star Ranking levels are constantly maintained and adjusted in accordance with changes made by an airline, be this to product or service standards - on average, each airline's Star Ranking is reviewed in depth every 2-3 months, and adjusted in accordance with the annual ratings" was misleading and could be substantiated, because they understood that the website continued to display rankings for airlines which were no longer in business; and
5. the claim "TRADEMARK PROTECTION - The titles below are protected by Skytrax, and can only be used by a Registered 5-Star Airline with consent of Skytrax" and accompanying list were misleading, because they did not believe that those titles were trademarked.

Assessment

1. Upheld
    
   The ASA considered that, in order to justify the claims of authenticity made in the ad, Skytrax needed to demonstrate that they took all reasonable steps to ensure that reviews were checked, trusted and made by "real" people with "real" opinions.
    
   ...
    
   Because Skytrax did not have the ability to track a review back to its source after the first 24 hours, and therefore could not demonstrate the verification process to which any one particular review on the site had been subjected, we concluded that they did not hold sufficient evidence to substantiate the claims "Checked and trusted airline review" and "REAL travellers with REAL opinions!".
    
   On that point, the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
   .
   
2. Upheld
    
   We understood that since 2007 Skytrax had imposed a 10-page limit for the number of reviews which would be displayed, and that at the bottom of the tenth page the website did state that older reviews had been archived. Whilst we acknowledged that that had been done for technical reasons, we considered that most consumers reading the claim "More than 5 million independent, traveller reviews and customer trip ratings" would understand that they would be able to access that many reviews on the website. Because the true number of reviews available on the Skytrax website was limited to around 400,000, we concluded that the claim "More than 5 million independent, traveller reviews and customer trip ratings" was misleading and unsubstantiated.
    
   On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
   .
   
3. Upheld
    
   We understood that the term "Official Quality Star Ranking" referred to each airline or airport's individual ranking in the Official Airline Star Ranking and Official Airport Star Ranking programmes. We acknowledged Skytrax's assertion that they had launched those programmes together with the world airline (and later airport) industry, and that the term "official" had been approved for use by all parties. However, Skytrax did not provide any evidence to support that argument. We noted that the CAP Code required advertisers to hold documentary evidence to prove objective claims before they distributed them. Because we had not seen any evidence demonstrating that the term "Official Star Ranking" had been agreed at an industry-wide level, we concluded that it was misleading.
    
   On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
   .
   
4. Upheld
    
   ... we noted that we had not seen evidence to demonstrate the real-time analysis format of the Star Ranking programme or the frequency with which Skytrax carried out Star Ranking reviews. Because Skytrax had not provided substantiation on that point, we concluded that the claim "The Star Ranking programme operates in a real-time analysis format, to ensure that Airline Star Ranking levels are constantly maintained and adjusted in accordance with changes made by an airline, be this to product or service standards - on average, each airline's Star Ranking is reviewed in depth every two to three months, and adjusted in accordance with the annual ratings" was misleading.
    
   On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).
   .
   
5. Upheld
    
   We noted that we had not seen evidence to demonstrate that the titles "5 Star Airline", "5 Star Airlines", "Five Star Airline" and "Five Star Airlines" were trademarked. Because Skytrax had not provided any substantiation on that point, we concluded that the claim "TRADEMARK PROTECTION - The titles below are protected by Skytrax, and can only be used by a Registered 5-Star Airline with consent of Skytrax" was misleading.
    
   On that point the ad breached CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 3.1 (Misleading advertising) and 3.7 (Substantiation).

Action

The claims which breached the CAP Code must not appear again. We told Skytrax not to imply that the reviews on their site were checked, trusted and genuine unless they could provide substantiation to that effect. We also told them not to make claims regarding the number of reviews on their site and the frequency with which they reviewed airlines' Star Rankings or to state that titles were trademarked, unless they could provide evidence to substantiate those facts, and not to use the term "Official Quality Star Ranking " unless they could show that this programme had been created in co-operation with the airline industry as a whole.

[FlyerTalker]

I always did enjoy how they had Air Koryo as the only 1 star airline. I have long been "suspicious" about Skytrax and its methodology. Thanks for the report.

[Gardyloo]

Thanks for this.

[Zach1213]

I always did enjoy how they had Air Koryo as the only 1 star airline. I have long been "suspicious" about Skytrax and its methodology. Thanks for the report.

 

Air Koryo as a one star airline is such a joke. One read of any trip report will show that they're much better than that.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Zach1213

[Globaliser]

Air Koryo as a one star airline is such a joke. One read of any trip report will show that they're much better than that.

I bet the problem is that they don't put many advertising dollars into Skytrax ... ;)

[Zach1213]

I bet the problem is that they don't put many advertising dollars into Skytrax ... ;)

 

Ding freakin' ding. Nailed it.

[Fattony]

I've still found useful info on Skytrax, but more the individual reviews rather than the star ratings (which would be subjective in any case). Of course, need to read those with a grain of salt, as with reviews on all sites, including Tripadvisor and even this one. I have had reviews published on Skytrax, and never been altered. Of course, my views may not be the same as others.

[Globaliser]

So, do we think that Etihad has decided that it wasn't getting its money's worth from Skytrax any more? :D

Etihad Airways withdraws from Skytrax

 

Etihad Airways and airline rating organization Skytrax have exchanged terse comments after the airline announced it was withdrawing from both the Skytrax World Airline Awards and the Skytrax Audit.

 

In a brief statement, Etihad said it had made its decision following a review of the criteria and measurement of the Skytrax Airline Rating System.

 

“The measurement of customer satisfaction and feedback is important to Etihad Airways,” it added. “The airline subscribes to monthly industry research and undertakes comprehensive monthly surveys to monitor customer satisfaction, using the insights to continually improve its products and services.”

 

ATW understands that Etihad—which holds a four-star Skytrax rating and has won several awards from the organization in recent years—felt there were inconsistencies and a lack of transparency in Skytrax’s rating system.

 

An Etihad source, who asked not to be identified on the grounds he was not cleared to speak about the matter, said the problem was exemplified by the use of lie-flat beds. The carrier had invested in lie-flat beds yet had remained in the four-star bracket, while others with the same cabin facilities had been granted five-star status.

 

“We’ve been trying to understand why there are inconsistencies and what the criteria [for judging] are. The decision to withdraw was based on being unable to get clear enough answers,” the source said.

 

...

[kenish]

Spirit Airlines should tout: "Skytrax prestigious 2-star rating, exclusive for North America" ! It's 100% honest and fits their corporate culture perfectly. Since most Americans don't look beyond advertising taglines it should gain business for Spirit. :)

Edited June 12, 2014 by kenish

[ducklite]

Spirit Airlines should tout: "Skytrax prestigious 2-star rating, exclusive for North America" ! It's 100% honest and fits their corporate culture perfectly. Since most Americans don't look beyond advertising taglines it should gain business for Spirit. :)

 

 

They actually get two stars? Who gets one? Out if business airlines only? ;)

[Zach1213]

They actually get two stars? Who gets one? Out if business airlines only? ;)

 

 

Air Koryo is the only one star airline in the world. But based on things I've heard, they're better than many of the two-star airlines