It's difficult for individuals to vote with their wallets if they don't know who the bad guys are. It would be extremely helpful if you started a running list of the providers who you have to fix repeatedly. I've learned the hard way to never fly American but it took two nightmare trips before I realized terrible service is their actual business model. Your column alerted me to only a sucker rents from Hertz at this point, but I hadn't seen the "AI" scam reported anywhere else. And so on and so on. Thoughts?
"Our supporters have told me the erosion of aviation consumer protections will drive them to vote in the next election."..............Vote for who, the guy who has yet to take a stand against ALL the airlines doing this? Can he really beat down all the issues?
Voting with our wallets, using the airline that supposedly isn't doing this yet is a positive step but for how long and who are they now?. It's always a matter of (short) time before they all cave. No, I don't have any better answers.
This is an important article and travel is only one way that our consumer rights are being eroded. Christopher is absolutely correct: Send a message by avoiding airlines when possible as they make it clear that their strategy is to screw their customers.
Also, your vote is very important -- vote for those who keep consumer rights on their platform. Unfortunately, there is one party who is doing this and one party who is leading the assault on working people and consumer rights. You know which is which. Vote accordingly.
In his 15 Sept posting Christopher discussed customer service rankings and provided a link to his article in Forbes. This is a good place to start if you are looking for a ranked list of airlines customer service performance.
Democrats care about consumers. Republicans care about the airlines making more money. I vote for consumers
Christopher,
It's difficult for individuals to vote with their wallets if they don't know who the bad guys are. It would be extremely helpful if you started a running list of the providers who you have to fix repeatedly. I've learned the hard way to never fly American but it took two nightmare trips before I realized terrible service is their actual business model. Your column alerted me to only a sucker rents from Hertz at this point, but I hadn't seen the "AI" scam reported anywhere else. And so on and so on. Thoughts?
I have a list! https://www.elliott.org/the-elliott-reports-red-list-green-list-the-best-and-worst-companies-for-customer-service/
Yay! Thank you. You may want to add this to your welcome list for new subscribers.
"Our supporters have told me the erosion of aviation consumer protections will drive them to vote in the next election."..............Vote for who, the guy who has yet to take a stand against ALL the airlines doing this? Can he really beat down all the issues?
Voting with our wallets, using the airline that supposedly isn't doing this yet is a positive step but for how long and who are they now?. It's always a matter of (short) time before they all cave. No, I don't have any better answers.
This is an important article and travel is only one way that our consumer rights are being eroded. Christopher is absolutely correct: Send a message by avoiding airlines when possible as they make it clear that their strategy is to screw their customers.
Also, your vote is very important -- vote for those who keep consumer rights on their platform. Unfortunately, there is one party who is doing this and one party who is leading the assault on working people and consumer rights. You know which is which. Vote accordingly.
Your column always provides food for thought, and good tools for travel. I really appreciate your thoughtful insights. In this story, you said:
"— choose airlines that treat passengers fairly, even when they don't have to."
Is there a ranked list of such airlines? I am happy to jump ship from my usual airlines, if some are more customer-focused carriers.
Yes, here's my list: https://www.elliott.org/the-elliott-reports-red-list-green-list-the-best-and-worst-companies-for-customer-service/
In his 15 Sept posting Christopher discussed customer service rankings and provided a link to his article in Forbes. This is a good place to start if you are looking for a ranked list of airlines customer service performance.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherelliott/2025/09/14/southwest-airlines-soars-amid-falling-airline-customer-service-scores/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Thank you Sheryl! I now have this list bookmarked!