It’s been the published view of Plane Talking for some time that Skytrax is a load of cobblers, and the UK Advertising Standards Authority agrees as set out in detail in this story from two Travel Mole reporters.

So called ratings agencies, whether they are Standard and Poor’s helping the dishonest flogging of  misleading derivative products to gullible Australian shire councils, or just Skytrax, are rarely called to account for their findings, which is as much an indictment of lazy reporting by the media as it is of their claimed integrity.

The writing of lists or ratings stories, whether in the travel or finance sections of news sites, is an all too easy way for journalists who have declined into being PR ciphers, to puff up a page.

It is ever sadder to note that readers are also all too ready to be told what is hot and what is not by the media without ever asking the question, Is this for real?

In the case of Skytrax, it wasn’t for real, in that its pronouncements didn’t mean anything that could be proven to have been based on the claimed body of evidence.

Travel reviews are always interesting if they are the author’s real experiences, and preferably accompanied by real photos, boarding passes and other supporting material. But to elevate them, through an allegedly robust process of checking, into a business that makes money by purporting to be an impartial and informed arbiter of excellence is a nonsense that has been called for what it is by the UK advertising authority.