OCU Survey on airlines and airports

OCU, along with 5 other consumer organizations, has surveyed more than 9,200 users to find out which are their preferred airlines and airports. Similarly, OCU has taken an interest in the main problems passengers found. Once again, Asian airlines and airports stand out for their high scores. The survey is published in the April edition of OCU Compra Maestra magazine.

Asian airlines are the most highly valued by passengers. In fact, the first 6 airlines listed in the ranking are Asian. Users praise their comfort, crew, punctuality, food quality and in-flight services.
All this comes without an exorbitant price, unlike some highly thought of European airlines.
Some low cost airlines, used by 21% of respondents over the last year, do not feature at the bottom of the list, nor are they synonymous with poor service. This is the case with the German company “German Wings” which is up in ninth place and is the most highly valued for flights of under 3 hours. In the next place on the list is Norwegian, which scores remarkably highly for its punctuality. Both are representative of small regional or economy class companies which exceed the valuation of companies that were once large state controlled airlines.
You have to go down the table to 25th place to find a Spanish airline. This is the Canary Island based Binter which has had a very positive development in the last ten years. Down in the final positions is Iberia, a company which, along with Alitalia, tops the list for luggage problems.

OCU has also taken an interest in the problems experienced by passengers: one in three who experienced delays received no explanation from the company; only 1 in 10 passengers received financial compensation for the cancellation of their flight; 27% of passengers arrived more than 15 minutes late and 6% of the passengers collected their luggage with some problem or delay.
The picture does not change much when OCU asks about satisfaction with airports. Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo occupy the top three positions in number of places to sit, abundance and reliability of the information screens or cleanliness of the toilets. All this without forgetting that Tokyo is one of the busiest airports in the world. This is proof that a major airport need not be chaotic and uncomfortable.

The best rated Spanish airports are Reus and Malaga. They occupy decent positions at 22 and 23 in the table. You have to go down to 38th place to get to a major international airport, Barcelona in this case, and even further down in order to reach Barajas Airport which is ranked at 74.
One of the main problems that produce a negative valuation for an airport is the waiting time for luggage. An average wait of 24 minutes is excessive for what is supposed to be the most modern and important airport in Spain.

More information on this project: http://www.ocu.org/consumo-familia/viajesvacaciones/informe/aerolineas-favorite
For more information (media) Eva Jimenez Tel:   917 226 061
prensa@ocu.org