"Atlanta airport scores below average in passenger survey"

Wednesday, December 8, 2004

Passengers rank airport slightly below average
By KIRSTEN TAGAMI
The Atlanta (GA) Journal-Constitution


Atlanta's airport ranked slightly below average for overall passenger
satisfaction, according to a survey by J.D. Power and Associates.

Hartsfield-Jackson International was 14th out of 22 large airports in the
survey, which looked at various aspects of service. They included getting to
and around the airport, the terminal facilities, retail, food and beverage,
baggage claim, security, and customs and immigration.

Hartsfield-Jackson and Los Angeles International tied for the worst score
for security checkpoints among large airports. Checkpoints were judged on
time it takes to clear security, the professionalism of the staff, and
whether the process made people feel safe.

Atlanta passengers were especially unhappy with the time it took to clear
security - 19 minutes on average vs. 13 minutes in 2003, said Linda
Hirneise, a partner in the Global Travel Practice at J.D. Power and
Associates.

That is the fifth-longest wait time of all 76 small, medium and large
airports in the 2004 study. The study was done between Oct. 25 and Nov. 12.

"We will examine the J.D. Power survey in light of the improvements we can
make in addition to the improvements we've already made this year," said
Robert Kennedy, director of marketing and public relations for the airport.
"We're already seeing wait times that are lower than they were earlier in
the year."

The federal Transportation Security Administration runs airport checkpoints,
and local airport officials have little say over staffing.

But in areas airports do control - such as the terminal facilities and food
and beverage - Atlanta didn't score very well either, Hirneise said. One
reason is that other large airports in the survey improved their scores over
last year, especially in Houston, Dallas, Chicago and San Francisco.

Also, the Orlando and Hong Kong airports had enough traffic to move into the
large-airport category this year, she said. Both were considered
medium-sized last year. Passengers ranked Hong Kong No. 1 and Orlando No. 2
in the world for 2004.


 Do you have an opinion about this story?
Share it with other readers in our CAA Discussion Forums

http://www.californiaaviation.org/dcfp/dcboard.php


*****************************************