Travel search site Skyscanner reckons it can play a part in ensuring airlines and online travel agencies stay on top of their game.
It what it claims is a metasearch "first", Skyscanner will start introducing a rating system so that travellers can see the feedback from fellow users of the site about a particular carrier or OTA.
The idea is that users can evaluate a partner on the quality of the booking service, not just on the price offered for a ticket.
Other elements included in the overall rating are the existence of additional fees, after-sales customer support experience and accuracy of the fares shown on Skyscanner compared to the end result.
Travellers are asked to submit their rating when they leave Skyscanner to head over to the partner's website, Skyscanner says, adding:
"Should their response be negative they are then asked to pick from a set of options for what could have been better (this is optional, and they can press ‘other’ and submit free text). We then categorise all the feedback for partners so they can understand which issues are most significant for them."
As well as helping travellers, Skyscanner wants to use the system so that airlines and OTAs can understand how their customers feel about their experience.
To do this, Skyscanner will give them access to a portal known as Connect, which reveals the data and feedback from customers, as well as their market share on routes and respective API performance.
Questions that come into the Skyscanner helpdesk are also we tracked and categorised for its partners so they can more understand any issues that arise, the company explains.
The ratings displayed against an airline or OTA will only be from travellers who have booked with the partner over the course of the past 91 days.
Chief commercial officer Frank Skivington says:
"The new feature provides a useful additional benchmark by which partners can measure their ongoing efforts to improve the quality of their service and our tangible consumer data is a unique offering which provides key benefits and insight to all suppliers regardless of their size.
"We believe the introduction of user ratings is a positive step for the industry as a whole, rewarding quality customer service and transparency."
KLMrecently introduced reviews and ratings for specific routes on its network, giving travellers what it claims is an independent review of its service and performance.