Trip Advisor Launches Airline Rating System

I don't take into account airline food when picking a flight. Would you?

I have two criteria that determine whether or not I take a flight: the price and the amount of room I get between my knees and the seat in front of me. That may be why I fly JetBlue when I can. The price is often right and the so called "seat pitch" (ie space between seats) is more generous than the competition.

As for service, decor, in-flight magazines...eh! Service will vary from flight to flight, I've found, simply because the flight attendants will always be different. Decor doesn't affect my enjoyment of the few hours I spend getting from point A to B (and that goes for the groovy purple lighting aboard Virgin America; since its legroom doesn't compare to JetBlue's I always take the latter when I get a chance).

I haven't mentioned safety because there's no difference, statistically, from one carrier to the next when it comes to flights in the US, Caribbean, South and Central America and Europe. It is a factor for flights within Asia and Africa.

Maybe I'm more easy-going than most. I'm sure TripAdvior certainly hopes that I am. It has just launched an airline rating system which will allow users to rate their flights by a number of criterion, including service, reasonableness of fees, seat comfort, etc. At this point there's no set-up for full reviews (which would be a real waste of time, to my mind).

The rating system could  be popular. And if popular enough it could certainly affect the way in which airline personnel are trained; and perhaps even how DOT regulations are written. Gotta take a wait and see on this one.

You can read a full account about the new system at TNooz.com.