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       Air Canada ranks near bottom on customer satisfaction: survey
        
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       Air Canada ranks below most other major North American airlines on
       customer satisfaction, with airfares a particular sore point,
       according to a new survey.
        
       The country's largest carrier placed last in both business class and
       premium economy, the poll by consumer analytics firm J.D. Power found.
        
       In economy class, Air Canada placed ninth out of 11 peers, beating
       budget carriers Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines.
        
       WestJet sat a little closer to the middle of the pack, coming in fifth
       out of seven for premium economy and seventh of 11 for economy.
        
       "With Air Canada, people were not as happy with the value for price
       paid," said Michael Taylor, who heads J.D. Power's travel division.
       That's one of six factors rated by passengers, alongside other factors
       including digital tools, airline staff and onboard experience.
        
       "They basically expected more for the cost of their tickets," he said.
        
       Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines notched the highest scores, a
       result Taylor attributed to their investment in staff training and
       recruitment.
        
       "Flight attendants at Delta actually have these smartphones — they
       call them 'hand-helds,' but they're basically smartphones — that let
       you see details of the guest in each individual seat and their history
       with the airline. So the staff can ask them how their trip compared to
       the last one or if their specific needs are met," Taylor said in an
       interview.
        
       "You can't be nice to all 185 passengers on a plane. But you can be
       really nice to five or 10."
        
       Meanwhile, Southwest aims to "hire for attitude" and encourages cabin
       crew to let their personalities "shine through," Taylor said. "Just
       let them be themselves instead of reading from a script."
        
       Air Canada pushed back against its low score, stating that it has
       earned high marks for service in various rankings.
        
       "This is one of a number of customer-based rankings and it should be
       noted that in others, many that use much larger sample sizes, Air
       Canada has performed very well," said spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick in
       an email.
        
       He pointed to recent laurels for service, staffing and onboard
       entertainment from the Skytrax airline review website, the Trazee
       Travel site, its sister publication Global Traveler Magazine and the
       Airline Passenger Experience Association.
        
       J.D. Power's online survey polled 9,582 customers between March 2023
       and March 2024.
        
       _This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 8, 2024._
        
        
        
        
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