The self-styled "Oscars of aviation" runs free passenger-voted awards alongside a paid audit/certification arm, and critics say earning money from the airlines it rates clouds its independence.
What it's really for An aviation-rating firm; airlines reportedly pay for the audits behind the star ratings.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its airline and airport star ratings and awards, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Skytrax says it funds the passenger awards survey itself and gives award logos away free, but a separate revenue stream comes from airlines and airports paying for Skytrax "audits" tied to the official Star Rating; Lufthansa confirmed paying low five-figure euro sums for audits, and reporting argues the firm makes most of its money from the very airlines it rates, which critics call an inherent conflict of interest even though carriers cannot openly buy a higher score.
Source →- Operating since
- 1989 (37 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- London-based aviation research firm that ranks airlines and airports through passenger surveys and its own auditor inspections, awarding 1-to-5-star ratings and the annual World Airline/Airport Awards while separately selling carriers paid audits and consulting.
- What they do
- Publishes star ratings and "World Airline Awards" for airlines and airports, blending worldwide passenger satisfaction surveys with hands-on inspections by its own researchers.
- What to watch for
- The headline-grabbing awards are free to enter, but the official Star Rating comes from paid audits whose detailed scoring criteria Skytrax does not publish, and the airlines it rates are by its own model also its paying audit/consulting clients.
- Composite score
- 1.80 / 5.00 → grade D+
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Skytrax was founded in 1989, originally operating as 'Inflight Research Services'; it is a privately held UK consultancy headquartered in London with no stated parent company. In November 2012 the UK Advertising Standards Authority upheld complaints, finding 'no evidence that Skytrax had followed the robust procedures it claimed it had in place to check that all reviews were genuine,' as customer emails were deleted 24 hours after a review was submitted. Source: Wikipedia — Skytrax →
- Lufthansa confirmed paying 'low five-figure sums (Euros)' for Skytrax audits; the rating criteria catalogue 'isn't available for you and I to read,' and the official Star Rating is believed to come from airlines and airports 'paying for audits by Skytrax researchers,' a model the author says makes it hard to tell whether the rating is fair. Source: Paddle Your Own Kanoo — Inside the Strange World of Skytrax →
- Airlines are 'not allowed to explicitly pay for a higher rating' but are 'allowed (and encouraged) to purchase consulting services from Skytrax'; one reviewer notes it is 'tough to take this rating seriously when you know that Skytrax makes the majority of its money from the very airlines it objectively rates,' describing an inherent conflict of interest. Source: The Points Guy — What Is Skytrax and What Do Its Ratings Mean? →