Last year Comfort Airlines had twice as many delayed flights as the year before, but the number of complaints from...
GMAT Critical Reasoning : (CR) Questions
Last year Comfort Airlines had twice as many delayed flights as the year before, but the number of complaints from passengers about delayed flights went up three times. It is unlikely that this disproportionate increase in complaints was rooted in an increase in overall dissatisfaction with the service Comfort Airlines provides, since the airline made a special effort to improve other aspects of its service last year.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the disproportionate increase in customer complaints?
Passage Analysis:
| Text from Passage | Analysis |
| Last year Comfort Airlines had twice as many delayed flights as the year before, but the number of complaints from passengers about delayed flights went up three times. |
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| It is unlikely that this disproportionate increase in complaints was rooted in an increase in overall dissatisfaction with the service Comfort Airlines provides, since the airline made a special effort to improve other aspects of its service last year. |
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Argument Flow:
The author starts with a puzzling fact pattern - complaints increased more than the actual problem (delays). Then the author eliminates one possible explanation by pointing to service improvements in other areas.
Main Conclusion:
The disproportionate increase in complaints about delayed flights was probably not caused by general dissatisfaction with Comfort Airlines.
Logical Structure:
The author uses elimination reasoning - if the airline improved other services, then general dissatisfaction can't explain why delay-specific complaints jumped so much. This leaves us needing another explanation for the puzzle.
Prethinking:
Question type:
Paradox - We need to explain why complaints tripled when delays only doubled. The puzzle is that the complaint rate increased disproportionately compared to the actual problem.
Precision of Claims
Quantitative relationships are key here - delays doubled (2x) while complaints tripled (3x). We also know other service aspects improved, so general dissatisfaction isn't the cause.
Strategy
Look for factors that would make passengers more likely to complain about delays specifically, even when delays only doubled. We need something that changed how passengers respond to delays, not something that created more delays or general unhappiness.
'Comfort Airlines had more flights last year than the year before.' This doesn't help explain our puzzle at all. We already know delays doubled and complaints tripled - knowing there were more total flights doesn't explain why the complaint rate increased faster than the delay rate. If anything, more flights with the same proportion of delays would suggest complaints should track proportionally with delays, not exceed them.
'Last year a single period of unusually bad weather caused a large number of flights to be delayed.' This explains why there were more delays but doesn't explain why complaints increased disproportionately. Whether delays came from one weather event or were spread throughout the year, we'd still expect complaints to track roughly with the number of delays, not exceed them by 50%.
'Some of the improvements that Comfort Airlines made in its service were required by new government regulations.' This is irrelevant to our puzzle. It tells us about the nature of the service improvements but doesn't explain why delay complaints specifically increased faster than delays themselves. Government regulations don't affect passenger complaint behavior about delays.
'The average length of a flight delay was greater last year than it was the year before.' This perfectly explains the paradox! Even though delays only doubled, if each delay lasted longer on average, passengers would be more frustrated and more likely to complain. Longer delays create more inconvenience, missed connections, and frustration - naturally leading to higher complaint rates per delayed flight. This explains why complaints could triple while delays only doubled.
'The average number of passengers per flight was no higher last year than the year before.' This eliminates one possible explanation but doesn't provide an alternative explanation for the disproportionate increase. If passenger numbers per flight stayed the same, we'd still expect complaints to increase proportionally with delays, not exceed that rate.