Skytrax being taken seriously

[MAN Flyer]

You're serious about taking Skytrax seriously!

Nobody with any intelligence takes Skytrax seriously. They are being investigated by the Advertising Standards Agency. What a surprise.

http://www.kwikchex.com/2012/06/the-...clarification/

[jjpb3]

Nobody with any intelligence takes Skytrax seriously. They are being investigated by the Advertising Standards Agency. What a surprise.

The only question I have is how it took so long.

[HUGE AL]

Posted in the Comedy Awards Master Thread
http://www.sqtalk.com/forum/showthre...820#post166820

Um...didn't I give you original credit 10 minutes before?

The only question I have is how it took so long.

+1

[SQflyergirl]

Skytrax in a bit of trouble

http://www.asa.org.uk/Rulings/Adjudi...DJ_196416.aspx

[MAN Flyer]

Well knock me down with a feather...

The claims which breached the CAP Code must not appear again. We told Skytrax not to imply that the reviews on their site were checked, trusted and genuine unless they could provide substantiation to that effect. We also told them not to make claims regarding the number of reviews on their site and the frequency with which they reviewed airlines' Star Rankings or to state that titles were trademarked, unless they could provide evidence to substantiate those facts, and not to use the term "Official Quality Star Ranking (TM)" unless they could show that this programme had been created in co-operation with the airline industry as a whole.

Summary of Council decision:

Five issues were investigated, all of which were Upheld

[SQflyergirl]

I always thought the site was a waste of good electrons.....

[Kyo]

It's about time they were taken to task. It's obviously a site designed to protect the interests of the airlines under a guise of being 'pro-consumer'. Total bs.

[concept|infinit]

It's about time they were taken to task. It's obviously a site designed to protect the interests of the airlines under a guise of being 'pro-consumer'. Total bs.

I guess the problem is there is no regulatory body on airline rankings. Bodies like the IATA can't do it, it'd be deemed biased since they should be representing the interests of all. And neither would airlines want to commit to one international ranking, it wouldn't be in their interest especially for bigger airlines like AA or CA who cannot ensure consistency across their their massive fleet and crew.

That's why there are numerous Airline Awards which carriers probably invest their Advertising and PR budget in to claim they won Best Airline at Award XX. I should know, I'm an ad man

But what baffles me is shoddy journalism. The Straits Times uses Skytrax's "World Airline Awards" as the benchmark like a number of newspapars and magazines around. Seems like no one in the editorial team researches these. What we discuss here is really their work. I'd have expected a qualifier. Changi Airport Group for example has a benchmark based on about 20 or so airport rankings and awards. That's the way the publications out there should do it.

[CarbonMan]

This is a dilemma for many publishing houses, balancing editorial integrity with commercial interests. The wise boss knows where to draw the line between the both; the desperate, greedy and silly ones will try to blend advertisements, advertorials and editorial into a undifferentiable muck fed to unsuspecting subscribers who don't know the difference.

[MAN Flyer]

That's why there are numerous Airline Awards which carriers probably invest their Advertising and PR budget in to claim they won Best Airline at Award XX.

The fact there are now literally so many of them around means that travel awards (not just airline awards) are basically a load of bollox, as every tom, dick and harry manages to claim some award or other.

I say this as someone who attended one of the best known ones last year as year as well.