The news came down this Sunday: the Turkish airline Turkish Airlines has been downgraded from 4 to 3 stars in the Skytrax ranking. A decision that is much talked about and that the vast majority of observers find deeply unfair.
What is Skytrax again?
First of all, let’s clarify what we are talking about. What is Skytrax? This is currently the most “recognized” ranking in air transport. It rates both airlines and airports.
What is it worth? The fact that it is a reference does not mean that it is above suspicion. Both the method and the results remain opaque to us and we have only moderate confidence in it, although it will always be better than an Airhelp ranking whose sole purpose is to advertise the eponymous business.
The proof, and we will talk about it again in a future file on the subject, the 5 stars awarded to Lufthansa which have caused a lot of ink to flow. Yes we like Lufthansa a lot but the current product does not deserve them if we compare, for example, the “Best” cabins of Air France which is 4 stars.
For the record the 5* airlines are : ANA, Asiana, Cathay Pacific, Eva Air, Garuda Indonesia, Hainan Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways et Singapore Airlines.
Among the 4* are: Aeroflot, Air France, British Airways, Easyjet, Etihad (recently downgraded to 5*), Emirates ….
And among the 3* : Turkish Airlines but also Egyptair, Kenya Airways, LOT, Kuwait Airways, RyanAir, SAS….
This alone is thought-provoking.
What is Turkish Airlines really worth?
From our point of view it is certainly the best European airline by far. Only two black spots came to darken the picture: a long haul business class in 2-3-2 (which will soon be a bad memory) and the Istanbul Ataturk airport which not only is now replaced by a real jewel but also does not fit in the Skytrax rating criteria.
For us it is clear that Turkish Airlines was closer to getting a 5th star than losing the 4th.
Here’s what Skytrax is saying today.
In business class first of all
And in economy:
Without going into detail it does not reflect our experience nor that of the passengers I hear about Turkish Airlines. And I don’t see why the airline is ranked at the same level as RyanAir, which makes it deserve one star less than Air France, British Airways and EasyJet or a fortiori two less than Lufthansa.
Can you imagine Michelin demoting Ducasse to the rank of a neighborhood pizzeria simply because he no longer wants to play the star game? Well, that’s exactly what’s happening here.
Turkish Airlines and Skytrax: friction since long.
So perhaps we should look elsewhere. Turkish has affirmed and reaffirmed its ambition to take its customer experience to the highest level and there is no doubt about it. Today, in terms of catering and service, I can’t think of anyone better than them in Europe.
But like the chefs who no longer want to be rated by Michelin, even if they are 3*, Turkish announced last year that it would distance itself from Skytrax.
On June 8, Turkish Airlines announced that it would no longer participate in Skytrax audits and would focus solely on direct feedback from “real” customers.
From there to think that it is a sanction of Skytrax which has badly lived to be thus disavowed there is only one step… that we will cross cheerfully!
Bottom line: the subject is Skytrax, not Turkish Airlines
Behind this scandalous downgrading of Turkish Airlines it is not a problem with the quality of the airline but a real problem with the reliability of Skytrax which once again takes a decision that nobody finds coherent.
What is really missing is an objective ranking of airlines based on real customer feedback. Precisely the only judge of peace that Turkish Airlines wants to listen today.
Photo : Turkish Airlines by Aermediavia Shutterstock
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