The level of satisfaction of airline passengers has declined over the last year according to a Customer Experience study looking at 14 major industries in the UK.
While air travel was only ranked as the ninth worst industry for customer service in the survey carried out research firm Engine – the number who said aviation had the worst customer experience and service increased from 13 per cent to 17 per cent.
The worst industries for customer service were public transport including trains with 32 per cent, followed by utilities (31 per cent) and insurance (27 per cent).
Oliver King, co-founder of Engine, said: “Customer satisfaction with airlines continues to decline as passenger expectations are heightened by great customer service in other sectors.
"The overall airline experience involves a plethora of component parts that need to work together but the industry lacks a joined-up approach - broken communication lines between partners and stakeholders being the main culprit.
“In customers' minds the lines of responsibility between airlines and airports can become blurred, meaning airlines are regularly blamed for any customer service abrasion.”
The industries seen as having the best customer service and experience were retail (38 per cent), hotels and hospitality (37 per cent) and food and restaurants (35 per cent).
Airlines ranked sixth out of the 14 sectors in consumers “being influenced by the quality of service”.
"In contrast to restaurants, customer experience becomes a bigger factor with age in which airlines and hotels people use,” said King.