More Fun With Surveys

I just saw this story on CNN.com about a Gallup poll concerning the airline industry. The survey shows 75% of respondents are happy with the job airlines are doing. That sounds like a really good result for the industry until you consider that only 55% of those respondents (577/1040) have flown in the past 12 months. Sure, it'd be easy for me to think the airlines were doing fine if I hadn't flown recently. Delays. Lost luggage. Delays. Rude service. Delays. No amenities. Oh, and did I mention the delays? On a recent trip from Chicago to Burlington, VT, I arrived at O'Hare at about 2:30 PM Sunday afternoon. After multiple delays, reroutings, and missed connections, I rented a car at La Guardia and drove the rest of the way home, arriving at 2:30 AM Tuesday morning. 36 hours, 17 of which was spent waiting in various airports. If I had driven from the beginning, I could have made a round-trip and had a full night's sleep in the middle. And someone I was travelling with did not get his luggage for nearly a week afterwards. Everyone I know who has flown recently has had at least one bad experience. I would venture to guess that the 25% that were not happy (260 respondents) were almost all in the 55% that had flown in the past 12 months. If so, that makes 45% of respondents who had flown in the past 12 months were not happy with the job the airlines are doing. That sounds about right to me.