PHL Airport #1, PHL Airline Last

Yeah. So the Philadelphia International Airport was named number one in customer satisfaction. Yes, the horrible PHL airport, the one everyone complains about and hates, was rated the #1 airport in the country. If you ever need to know that surveys are stupid, you now have concrete evidence.

But, wait! says airport chief Charles Isdell: “We have been trying for several years now to turn the corner in terms of people’s perception of the airport. And a lot of their perception quite frankly has to do with the performance of US Airways. The performance of US Airways has gone up in the past year.”

Uh, this is a consumer perception survey from J.D. Power. If people’s perception is that the airport service sucks — I’ve never actually had a bad experience there, but I never fly anywhere — how, exactly, did the airport win this contest?

In related news, the University of Michigan ranked U.S. Airways the worst airline in America, based on consumer surveys. Argh, how the hell does all of this work again?

PHL Airport Gets #1 Ranking in Satisfaction Survey [KYW 1060]
Travelers pan service at U.S. Airways [Bizjournals.com]