A mystery shopper investigation by Which? has exposed multiple airline “customer service failures” after testing eight companies.
The consumer advocate wanted to find out “the true state” of customer service culture at easyJet, BA, Vueling, Wizz Air, Ryanair, KLM, Tui and Jet2.
The result? “Malfunctioning bots and useless message loops (and) fraudulent premium rate phone lines,” said Which?.
Which? explained that its investigators contacted airlines via a number of channels, including phone calls, online chats, emails (or alternatively an online enquiry form or WhatsApp if no email contact is available) and X (formerly Twitter).
The researchers asked “simple requests”, Which? explained, “such as correcting a spelling mistake on a booking or asking for advice on whether their passport is valid for travel to the EU”.
In a customer service study, Which? revealed that the “most immediately obvious” contact number on Wizz Air’s website and when searching via Google “charges a staggering £1.45 per minute”.
In each case, the airline was evaluated on accuracy, speed and how helpful the interactions were.
Which? revealed: ‘When it comes to using online chat services, researchers found that coordination between bots and live agents is imprecise.’
by Wizz Air The chatbot promised to connect a researcher with a live agent to discuss passport expiration rules, but “the agents were too busy.”
Which? said: ‘The bot advised the researcher to wait a minute before trying a live chat connection again and did so 12 times in 15 minutes before the researcher accepted defeat.
‘A second attempt, this time to correct a misspelled name, went better as clear instructions were provided on what to do. However, the robot was unable to make the correction on the passenger’s behalf, as a real customer service agent could have done.’
EasyJet was most successful in demonstrating how chatbots and live agents can work well together, Which? revealed, explaining: “When a researcher asked to correct a spelling mistake on the booking, the bot explained how this could be done through the website, but also offered to connect the researcher to a live agent to do it on their behalf.”
EasyJet has successfully demonstrated how chatbots and live agents can work well together, Which? has revealed.
For non-urgent queries, contact by email also “proved difficult in many cases.”
Which one? he explained: ‘Jet2 and RyanairFor example, they didn’t offer email as an option, but those that did weren’t necessarily helpful. British Airways, Vueling and fresh air either did not respond or did not provide useful information when they did. In contrast, EasyJet He responded every time, usually helpfully, and From yours online consultation form and from KLM The WhatsApp alternative proved effective.
The Which? caller was told that the phone number they were calling from did not match the booking reference and Ryanair’s system cut them off.
And what about telephone contact? The researchers found that finding a phone number and then accessing help was “not always straightforward,” and that a telephone contact for existing reservations “was only immediately obvious to researchers in You and from Vueling sites’.
The first call to Vueling It failed because the query was misheard, offering directory options to choose from that did not fit the researcher’s query, and before he could decide which to choose, he was disconnected.
In total, according to the study, Vueling hung up on Which? in three out of six attempts.
from Ryanair The automated system also stunned researchers.
Which? said: ‘On the first occasion, the Which? caller was told that the phone number they were calling from did not match the booking reference and the call was cut off. A second call was cut off because the flight was not due to depart within 30 days. Investigators finally got through when they tried to get through the day before the flight.’
KLMMeanwhile, he “couldn’t help when asked about gluten-free menus.”
In another case, Which? noted that rather than offering a simple solution to correct a spelling mistake, the airline required a passport photo to be emailed to the user, but when the researcher called back and got a different agent, they were able to correct it on the spot.
The study also highlighted that getting help can be costly.
Which? revealed that the “most immediately obvious” number in by Wizz Air its own website and when searching through Google “charges a staggering £1.45 per minute”.
The airline has a local fare number “hidden on its site,” but one researcher gave up trying to find it “after 30 clicks.”
A Ryanair spokesperson said: “We do not respond to Which?’s fake news or its equally false and systematically inaccurate ‘surveys’.”
Another one finally found it, in the “special assistance” section.
Communicating with companies through X (formerly Twitter) was “generally more successful”: Researchers revealed that they had “positive interactions with Vueling, licensed in letters and Jet2‘.
However, Which? notes that the danger of being scammed on social media makes this “the riskiest method of contact”. Researchers reported receiving spam “from a number of accounts posing as airlines and asking for personal information”.
In conclusion, Which? said: ‘In total, researchers experienced a range of inconsistent and sometimes deeply disappointing customer service interactions, with people such as fresh air, Ryanair, KLM and Vueling Not meeting expectations.
Which? researchers found that Vueling’s customer service had ups and downs
“It is imperative that airlines take steps to make it easier for their customers to obtain timely and effective solutions to their problems. This current lack of effective customer service and contact methods by some airlines can have serious consequences when customers try to obtain advice, refunds or help with rerouting when flights are delayed or cancelled.”
Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, said: “It is unacceptable that such poor customer service has become the norm in the travel industry, and it is essential that airlines raise their standards and make it easier for passengers to obtain timely and effective solutions when faced with a problem.”
‘The government should prioritise giving stronger powers to the Civil Aviation Authority, including direct fine powers, so that it can properly hold airlines to account when they fail to comply with consumer protection laws.’
TO fresh air A Which? spokesperson said: “We do not accept these findings. It is yet another blatant attempt by Which? to mislead the public with misleading ‘research’.”
‘Once again, Which? has not been transparent about its methodology, only asking a handful of people to give their opinion and attempting to disguise it as representative.
‘The fact is that you can’t contact a customer service team just a few times and judge the performance of an airline with millions of customers based on that alone. It’s simply not accurate or fair. As an organisation that’s supposed to be on the consumer’s side, Which? should be offering customers accurate advice they can trust, rather than trying to grab headlines. Our customer service teams deal with thousands of customers a day and provide them with the support and assistance they need.’
But it is fresh air In denial? This claim contradicts not only the Which? study, but also the ratings of the major review sites. fresh air gets a pitiful 1.3 out of five for customer service on Trustpilot from 13,000 reviews, and in Tripadvisor It scores an average of just 2.5 out of five for customer service based on 26,800 reviews.
TO Vueling A company spokesperson said: “Occasional challenges are not an indicator of the overall quality of our service. We continually evaluate our procedures to ensure the best customer service and take the areas for improvement highlighted in the survey very seriously.”
TO Ryanair The spokesperson said: “We do not respond to Which?’s fake news or its equally false and routinely inaccurate ‘polls’.”
