Just when you thought that the price of oil reached an all-time unbelievable peak, it goes up, again. Then airfares rise in what appears to be a futile attempt to keep pace with escalating fuel costs. Airlines impose more surcharges, new fees for checked baggage, and minimum stay requirements. In-flight drinks cost more and there is less food and service available. It seems the higher the cost of oil, the lower the customer service satisfaction.

As bad as escalating expenses are for customers, they are even worse for the airlines. When it costs an unexpected additional billion dollars just to operate the flight schedule, emergency measures must be put into place for carriers to survive. Unfortunately, those measures create customer frustration and increasing dissatisfaction.

According to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 North America Airline Satisfaction Study, travelers blame worsening customer service on their dissatisfaction with airlines, rather than the fare increases and surcharges. The study measures customer satisfaction of both business and leisure travelers with major North American carriers and is based on nearly 20,000 passenger responses between April 2007 and March 2008. The study found that overall satisfaction with the airline industry is at its lowest level in three years.

Since many of the airline cost-cutting initiatives are just being instituted now, it will be interesting to see how the results may change when next year’s satisfaction study is conducted.

It appears that airlines are one of the top industries in the world that consumers love to hate. According to the Reputation Institute in New York City, the airline and aerospace industries rank right alongside chemicals, food and tobacco, energy, financial services, and telecommunications with the lowest reputation scores. The Institute’s findings indicate that the general public tends to rate makers of consumer products, computers, and electronics very well. My guess is that it may have something to do with the concept of tangibility, perceived value, dependence, usefulness, and something with a shelf life.

I can only imagine the frustration airlines executives, employees, and their shareholders are experiencing in today’s economic environment. The severe cuts airlines must make in an effort to survive negatively impact themselves, their customers, and allied businesses. Reducing capacity, eliminating destinations, delaying aircraft deliveries, and furloughing staff is just the beginning. As both airlines and their passengers experience increasing frustration, we can only wonder just how much worse it can get before it gets better.

Whatever impacts airlines and their passengers affects airports and related businesses that rely on air carriers. Unlike other market sectors with a diversified client base, airports are heavily dependent on the airlines for their revenues.