Labour strife drags down Qantas marks, but not by much

Customer satisfaction with Qantas dropped during late 2011 while Virgin gained ground, according to a market research firm.

Qantas customer satisfaction fell slightly during the latter part of 2011 with Virgin Australia seeing a corresponding rise, according to a report by market research firm Roy Morgan.

Satisfaction with Qantas fell during October, when the airline briefly grounded its fleet amid a labour dispute, and ended November at 84 per cent, down from a high of 87 per cent in June 2011, the report said. The November figure is still better than the 80 per cent satisfaction reported in January 2010.

Virgin Australia closed the gap on Qantas, finishing November with 82 per cent satisfaction, up from 80 per cent in June.

“Although Qantas still has a small lead over Virgin Australia the gap is likely to close further in the coming months,” Roy Morgan Research International Director of Tourism, Travel and Leisure Jane Ianniello said in a statement.

“By contrast the satisfaction rating for Virgin Australia with its quick response in putting on more flights during the Qantas industrial dispute has increased strongly in the past two months. Virgin’s satisfaction rating has now recovered to the same level as it was before the reservation and check-in system failure in late September 2010 that affected approximately 50,000 customers.”