Thomas Cook has blasted consumer magazine Which? after the operator’s airline came second last in a satisfaction poll.
Thomas Cook Airlines got a 36% satisfaction rating in the short-haul airlines survey, with only Ryanair lower with an overall satisfaction score of 34%.
But Cook said the survey was flawed and did not reflect the findings of its own customer satisfaction surveys.
Frank Pullman, managing director of Thomas Cook Airlines UK said: “With alarming regularity and without taking onboard comments we’ve made in previous years, the Which? short-haul airline satisfaction survey results are, once again, in stark contrast to the high levels of satisfaction our customers tell us about.
“From our own survey – which is 75 times larger than the Which? report – our customer satisfaction scores 90% for those rating their short-haul flight as either excellent or good for their holiday last summer. In the Which? report, only 283 customers commented on Thomas Cook, but even more alarming is that the airline placed first received responses from only 59 people.”
Pullman added: “It’s impossible to see how this survey offers consumers a like-for-like comparison when Which? is comparing airlines with completely different product offerings that appeal to completely different customers. If Mrs Smith wants to fly with her family to Spain, a smaller scheduled airline with restricted flying programme is not going to be able to help her.
“Unlike scheduled airlines, for most of our customers, our flights form part of their package holiday with us. An important factor is about getting them to their holiday destination on time – we frequently score highly, even in the Which? survey, and we came second in the CAA’s on time performance table last year, and expect to perform similarly well when the new report is out.”
Cook said its own survey results were based on responses from 421,623 customers.