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If you’re planning a trip, you may check out traveler reviews for hotels, attractions and restaurants. Now you can check out traveler reviews for airlines.
TripAdvisor is a site that has offered reviews of hotels, attractions and restaurants for many years, but this month it has expanded to include airline reviews. Now people can read about others’ experiences flying.
Unless you travel by private jet, you may want to consider how well-rated an airline is before booking a flight. If you think all airlines are the same, your mind will soon be changed when you read the reviews. Some are stellar. Many aren’t.
Most people choose their flights by cost and convenience. But when you want to choose between airlines, you may want to compare the traveler reviews, especially for long flights.
TripAdvisor Airline Reviews covers 300 airlines around the world. Even though the site launched recently, it has thousands of reviews already. The company tested the site privately for months to populate it with reviews. Some airlines have over 2000 reviews, though a few airlines haven’t been reviewed yet.
You may spend a lot more money on a flight than on a hotel. You can now make a more educated decision about which flight to take. If you’re wondering whether to take a chance by flying on an unknown airline, you can now see how that airline has been rated.
You can also leave reviews on flights you’ve taken. Had a fabulous experience? Tell the world and lavish praise on the crew, staff, food and services. Had a miserable experience? Share what went wrong to alert others about the airline’s shortcomings.
Using TripAdvisor Airline Reviews
Head to the TripAdvisor Airline Reviews website where you’ll find airlines listed alphabetically. Ratings are shown next to airlines’ names and logos so you can easily see which ones are the best and worst of the bunch.
Click on the airline name to see the summary of the ratings, including categories for:
- leg room
- customer service
- cleanliness
- food and beverage
- seat comfort
- value for the money
- check-in and boarding
- in-flight entertainment (Wi-Fi, movies, tv)
Scroll down to read individual reviews. You can sort these by date (oldest or most recent first) or by ratings.
The reviews show which flight the reviewer took, which class the reviewer sat in, and whether the flight was international or domestic. Dates are shown, both for when the flight was taken and the review was written. You can see how each reviewer rated the airline for the categories listed above, as well as any travel tips the reviewer has shared.
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to see travelers’ tips and photos of the airline.
You don’t need to register to use the site, but you do have to sign in with an account or via social media if you want to read the full text of longer reviews or leave a review yourself.
Language
Reviews are available in many languages. You can filter reviews by language or use the built-in Google Translate feature on the site to translate reviews into your native language.
Flyscore
TripAdvisor has also introduced Flyscore, a rating system for flights. TripAdvisor searches 200 travel sites to find flights that match your search criteria.
When you search for flights using TripAdvisor, you’ll see a FlyScore rating in the results.
FlyScore rates the quality of the air travel itinerary and assigns a number from 1-10. Ratings are based on:
- traveler reviews
- quality of the aircraft
- in-flight amenities
- length of the combined flights, including layovers and transfers
You can sort results by FlyScore to see which flights have the highest ratings. Go to the last page of the results to see the worst FlyScore rated experience you could have.
Your Thoughts
Do you like the idea of reading reviews of airlines on TripAdvisor before you book a flight? Would you look at the FlyScore to see which flight is rated best? Will you be leaving reviews of airlines?
Share your thoughts in the Comments section below!
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* Airplane image (edited) courtesy of PROPyro Rock Monster Petty via Flickr and Creative Commons
Hi Carolyn,
Good to be back on your blog, and the blogosphere as such, after long 🙂
Informative post, as always! I’ve heard of Tripadvisor and even written a few reviews myself, but those were for hotels, and such reviews always help the customer get genuine feedback, though not all the reviews are authentic, I’d add, as some people tend to get people write them in their favor as well. However, airline reviews on TripAdvisor seems something totally new, and I’d surely be checking it out as well, as I don’t think you can find as many reviews on any other site.
Thanks for sharing, and hope you have been well as well 🙂
Hi Harleena, A warm welcome back! The Internet surely missed you and is very happy to have you back in the blogosphere.
You’re right, any online reviews can be questionable, but I’m thinking that since TripAdvisor only recently opened this airline review service up to the public, most of the reviews are probably legit. If you see hundreds of reviews, consistently bad or good, then that’s probably a decent indication of what to expect from the airline.
Perhaps by reviews being available on TripAdvisor, passengers will be able to make more informed decisions and airlines will become aware of areas where they need to improve.
Then again, I’ve always thought a good flight is one that lands safely…
This is awesome, Carolyn!
When I travel, I always make certain to review hotels before checking in; however, it has never occured to me to also check what to expect as soon as I’m air bound (maybe, because, I’m already used to the quality of the airlines and always do what I can to stick to a select few 🙂 )
However, henceforth, I’ll be looking to use some variety and would rely heavily on the reviews to make a choice that is far from dumb or stupid…after a trip, I’ll also take time to leave a review.
This entry is as awesome as always…thanks for bringing this service to the knowledge of your readers.
Be certain to make the day great!
Always,
Akaahan Terungwa
Hello Terungwa, Thank you for your kind words. Yes, traveler reviews for airlines can be a game-changer. We will have more information about which airlines give us the best service, instead of “flying blind.” We can make more informed choices, if we have choices.
Airlines may also work harder to give better service and strive for better ratings. Consistently low ratings from passengers may well affect revenues, giving airlines more incentive to treat passengers more like guests and less like cargo. That would be a truly beautiful development!
Trip ad visor is best friend when i am ready for tour.Recently on Italy tour it help me lot.I dont feel any need to search in google for any hotel or advise.Thanks.