The aviation rating company Skytrax annually rates airlines, airports and other things, such as airlines‘ Covid 19 policies, and awards up to 5 stars depending on how good they are.
As of 2017, Lufthansa was the only European airline (or non-Asian airline) to make it into the 5-star club besides, for example, Cathay Pacific, JAL Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Qatar Airways and Singapore Airlines.
Now Lufthansa has been demoted back to a 4-star airline and is back on the same level as most European airlines such as British Airways, Air France, Finnair, Iberia, KLM and Swiss.
The pandemic years and the enforced cost-cutting measures, which in some cases produced a clear negative response among passengers, as well as frequent flyers and status customers, are now making themselves felt in the rating.
Economy and Premium Eco on long-haul routes in particular lost significant points resp. stars. The degradation is particularly clear in the (free) meals and drinks in Economy. Here, from 4 stars (2017) to now 0.5 stars.
Lufthansa should now take strong countermeasures to improve again in some areas. The years 2021 and 2022 were characterized by cost-cutting measures and reductions, which in my opinion were either strategically wrong or not at all communicated. I think many passengers would have more sympathy if it had been clearly communicated that cost cuts were essential, for example, to repay loans (Lufthansa received a huge government loan in 2021) or to absorb higher prices. Of course, moderation is also needed here, because not everything can be blamed on the Covid impact.
But in some cases Lufthansa introduced price increases in secret (overnight updating of seat reservation prices) or it was communicated that the customer wished for a (mostly negative) product modification.
Overall, the airlines should now be careful not to make themselves unpopular with passengers, because in Europe there is additional chaos at the airports in the summer of 2022 due to staff shortages. There was already a meltdown at Amsterdam Airport in the spring. Now the German airports are following one by one – depending on when the vacations start in the individual German states. At the end of June 2022, a Twitter video went viral showing a 1.8 kilometer (1.1 mile) long queue at Cologne Airport. At Düsseldorf Airport, there was a chaos at the baggage claim – there was not enough staff to unload the baggage, so even the airport fire brigade had to help out.
Of course such problems aren’t caused by the airlines, but such minor negative changes are often the straw that cut the camel’s back.
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