Airlines slammed over complaints

Many passengers have problems with the handling of their baggage by airlines

LONDON, England -- Airlines are not taking customer complaints seriously, according to a report from a passengers pressure group out on Tuesday.

British Airways, Air France and Ryanair top the list of airlines receiving complaints, but Ryanair disputes the group's findings.

The annual report, covering March 2001-2002, from the Air Transport Users Council (ATUC) showed lost luggage, tickets problems, delays and cancellations top the list of customer complaints.

ATUC said: "Despite repeated assertions to the contrary from the airline industry, we see little evidence that there is any real concern about the impact on passengers of damaged, delayed or lost luggage."

Ryanair chief executive Michael O'Leary told BBC's Today programme: "The figures are incorrect -- we are knocking up approximately the same number of complaints per passenger as British Airways, who carry about twice the number of passengers as Ryanair."

A BA spokeswoman said: "On the list BA is by far the largest airline so the figures have to be put into perspective. We have high standards of customer care and we take any complaint seriously."

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As percentages of the total telephone complaints, mishandled baggage -- which includes lost and damaged luggage -- counted for 19 percent, ticket problems for 15 percent and delays nine percent.

BA top the list of companies complained about with 117 telephone complaints, but ATUC admits it also carries the most passengers, with Air France coming second ahead of low-budget Ryanair.

The number of complaints against Air France increased to 110 from 81 in the previous year's report, while the Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair received 77 compared to 138 in 2001.

According to ATUC the fall in Ryanair complaints was down to a lack of communication between the two organisations.

ATUC said: "Ryanair has told us it will not respond to correspondence from the ATUC, so we no longer encourage people to forward their complaints to us."

Chairman Ian Hamer added: "We are handling increasing numbers of telephone inquiries about reservation errors, most of which appear to have arisen from direct bookings with airlines either over the telephone or via the Internet."

In all, the council received complaints against more than 120 individual airlines over the past year.