The following appeared in an Avia Airlines departmental memorandum:
"On average, 9 out of every 1,000 passengers who traveled on Avia Airlines last year filed a complaint about our baggage-handling procedures. This means that although some 1 percent of our passengers were unhappy with those procedures, the overwhelming majority were quite satisfied with them; thus it would appear that a review of the procedures is not important to our goal of maintaining or increasing the number of Avia's passengers."（39）
The memorandum shows an impressive statistics that only 9 out of every 1,000 passenger filed a complaint about Avia Airlines's baggage-handing procedures. The Avia Airline cites the low rate to conclude that they do not have to review the procedures. However, I do not find this memo persuasive and well reasoned because the statistics presented here might not reflect the real situation, and even overlook seriousness of the problem.
First of all, the rate, at first glance, appears to be an low rate, but what if it is the highest rate when compared with that of other airlines? An absolute number cannot help a company to realize the actual situation. For example, if most airlines have only 0.1 percent of their passengers are unhappy with the service, 1 percent dissatisfied rate is definitely an warning singanal that Avia Airline has to remedy. Thus, it is better to consider other companies' data when using a single number to make the decision.
In addition, the overwhelming people who do not express their opinion does not necessarily mean that they are satisfy with the service. There may be many reasons for those people to choose not reply their unhappiness, such as no time to file a complaint, forget to do so, or too shy to express their feelings. On the top of that, people who choose not to report their discontents may switch to aboard other airlines next flight. Therefore, for maintaining or increasing the number of passengers, Avia Airline should engage in improve the service to please more passengers when it is not able to gather all passengers' opinions.
Finally, those one percent complainants might spread their feelings or experiences to their friends via mouth, e-mail, or even Facebook! Nowadays, the internet is popularized, so the speed of spreading information is tremendous fast. Through such spreading, more and more people will have a negative image about Avia Airline, and will, in turn, choose not to take Avia Airline. As the result, Aia Airline may loss lots of potential passengers. Hence, one percent complaints deserve to gain more attention, since it may cause a serious consequence.
In conclusion, it is dangerous for Avia Airline to use only one single number to make a decision because the company does not consider the seriousness of the problem brought by those complainants. Moreover, an absolute number cannot represent the whole figure of situation unless it can be compared with other companies' data. Therefore, Avia Airline should interpret the data by comparing with those of other companies, and pay more attention on those dissatisfied people.
... to be a low rate, but what if...
it is the highest rate when compared with that those of other airlines?
In addition, the overwhelming number of people who do not express their opinions does not necessarily mean that they are satisfied with the service.
Finally, those one percent complainants might spread their feelings or experiences to their friends via mouth, e-mail, or even Facebook! ----Very good point, what a thorough argument you have made!
In conclusion, it is dangerous for Avia Airline to use only one single number to make a decision this is not the problem. The problem is that it is dangerous for them to be complacent when they learn of customer dissatisfaction.
...and pay more attention to those dissatisfied people.
:-) Almost perfect!!
