No one likes to fly any more, and there’re plenty of valid reasons why.
The airline industry is currently suffering from a labor shortage, particularly when it comes to pilots. Many of them decided to take a buyout or retire early during the pandemic, and the industry has struggled to replace them.
They’ve also struggled to get enough engineers, flight attendants and desk workers, and the ones that are still around are starting to leave, because they’re sick of getting yelled at for things that are not their fault. The general consensus amongst experts is that the only way airlines can solve this problem is by upping salaries and more rigidly enforcing efforts to protect employees from abuse; it’s arguable the airlines have been reluctant to take this course.
Throw in increasingly unpredictable weather due to the increased effects of climate change and employees getting sick from covid, and the result is that flight delays and outright cancellations are more frequent than ever. It's gotten to the point that Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has stepped in and told the industry that it needs to start doing much better, starting by offering travelers hit with delays and cancellations food and hotel vouchers.
Southwest Airlines (LUV) employees are sad that, in their opinion, their owners are making them look bad, and tarnishing the company’s image as leaders in customer service, that they’ve begun picketing locations where Southwest executives gather.
Of course, flying isn’t the only way to get anywhere. But it turns out that people also really don’t like the car rental industry, and a new survey from J.D. Power gives some detail as to why that is.
Avis, Hertz Struggle With Rental Inventory
Last year, there were a ton of stories about customers who showed up at the airport to get their rental car, only to find the car they’d reserved (and often paid for in advance) was not available.
The short version of the story is that during the pandemic, car rental companies such as Hertz (HTZZW) and Avis (CAR) were hit hard, as much of their business collapsed, falling 41 percent year-on-year in 2020. To keep the lights on, companies began selling off their cars, a move which seemed short-sighted but necessary, from the companies' point of view.
When the pandemic began to ease, car rental companies found themselves shorthanded and unable to stock back up quickly enough. This problem was only amplified due to a shortage of computer chips for new cars, due to supply chain issues.
The result was Hertz and other companies didn’t have enough cars to go around, and customers were often not told about this problem until they arrived at the help desk. As a result, customer satisfaction with car companies during the height of the pandemic dropped on average by 11 points, to 830, on a 1,000 point scale, according to Travel Weekly.
Since then the chip shortage has improved somewhat, as has the car rental industry’s supply of vehicles. But it turns out that customers are even less pleased with the state of the car rental industry.
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People Are Really Mad At The Car Rental Industry
Overall customer satisfaction for the industry this year was 829, down from 830 in 2021 and 841 in 2020, according to J.D. Power.
What’s going on here? Well, you know what’s not down? Car rental fees, which are up a whopping 14% this year.
"When it comes to rental cars, price is the biggest factor affecting satisfaction, and the combined effects of inflation and high fuel prices are really pushing customers to their limits -- and that could affect brand image," said Michael Taylor, managing director of travel, hospitality and retail at J.D. Power.
"If rental car companies want to offset the influence of these cost increases on customer satisfaction and their brand loyalty, they are going to have to work hard to deliver outsized value by ramping up service."
The survey notes that Enterprise ranked highest in overall customer satisfaction with a score of 865 on a 1,000-point scale, with National clocking in second at 859 and Alamo third at 837.
The 2022 North America Rental Car Satisfaction Study was collected from responses gathered from 8,445 business and leisure travelers, who rented a vehicle at an airport location between August 2021 and August 2022.
