Quote:
The following appeared in an Avia Airlines departmental memorandum:
“On average, 9 out of every 1,000 passengers who traveled on Avia Airlines last year filed a complaint about our
baggage-handling procedures. This means that although some 1 percent of our passengers were unhappy with those
procedures, the overwhelming majority were quite satisfied with them; thus it would appear that a review of the
procedures is not important to our goal of maintaining or increasing the number of Avia’s passengers.”
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
The argument claims that because only 1% of passengers filed a complaint last year regarding baggle-handling procedures, only a very small number of passengers are unsatisfied and thus, it is not necessary to improve these procedures in order to maintain or increase the number of passengers. Stated in this way, the argument fails to mention several key factors, on the basis of which it could be evaluated. The conclusion of the argument relies on assumptions for which there is no clear evidence. Hence, the argument is weak, unconvincing, and flawed.
First, the argument readily assumes that the unsatisfaction rate is constant from year to year. This statement is a stretch and does not take into account that the procedures or that the passengers themselves could have changed. To illustrate, if baggage-handling procedures have become worse, a higher percentage of passengers would be unsatisfied this year than in last year. The argument could have been much clearer if it explicitly stated that the unsatisfaction rate has not changed since last year.
Second, the argument claims that, because only 1% of passengers filed a complaint, the vast majority is satisfied. This is again a very weak and unsupported claim as the argument assumes that all unsatisfied passengers file complaints. To illustrate, it could be that 500 out of 1,000 passengers were unsatisfied with the procedures, yet only 9 of them filed official complaints. Clearly, the number of passengers that filed complaints is not a measure of the total number of unsatisfied passengers. If the argument provided evidence that all passengers who did not file a complaint were satisfied, then the argument would have been a lot more convincing.
Finally, there are questions which are left unanswered by the argument. What if another airline has better baggage-handling procedures, and thus higher customer satisfaction? What if the the unsatisfaction rate of 1% is enough to drive passengers away? Without convincing answers to these questions, one is left with the impression that the claim is based more on wishful thinking rather than substantive evidence.
In conclusion, the argument is flawed for the above-mentioned reasons and is therefore unconvincing. It could be considerably strengthened if the author clearly mentioned all the relevant facts.
close
04 Sep 2022, 17:13
