67. The following appeared in an article in a travel magazine.
“After the airline industry began requiring airlines to report their on-time rates, Speedee Airlines achieved the number one on-time rate, with over 89 percent of its flights arriving on time each month. And now Speedee is offering more flights to more destinations than ever before. Clearly, Speedee is the best choice for today’s business traveler.”
旅游杂志的文章：
航空工业开始要求航空公司报告他们的准时率以后，Speedee航空公司达到准时率最高，每月他的航次有超过89％都准时到达。现在，Speedee提供了更多的航次到更多的地方。显然，Speedee是今天的商务旅行者最好的选择。
1.         提供了更多航次，准时率可能下降。
2.         准时不是最好选择的唯一标准。服务，价格也很重要。
3.         没有说到底几个月。如果报告只有两个月，不足以说明问题。其他公司的准时率说不定正在稳步上升
4.         由于是航空公司自己报告，数据可能被扭曲: We can image that the main purpose of airline industry to require on-times rates report is to identify and award the best companies, it is easy to suppose that the Speedee Airlines, which can benefit from its report, give unfair and inaccurate¹ date.
 
A travel magazine article claims that Speedee Airlines is the best choice for today’s business traveler. To support this claim, the author points out that Speedee has ranked first in terms of on-time arrival rate since the airline industry began requiring airlines to report their on-time rates. The claim is also based on the assertion that “Speedee new offers more flights to more destination than ever before.” This argument suffers from several critical flaws.
First of all, the claim relies on a couple of unwarranted assumptions. One assumption is that on-time rates, number of flights, and destination choices are the only features of airlines service that determine how a particular airline would rank overall for a business traveler. However, the author of this article ignores other factors such as fare prices and discounts, safety record, baggage-handing, and in-flight amenities². Another assumption is that Speedee’s overall on-time record affects business and no-business travelers equally. However, this is not necessarily the case. Speedee may have a poorer record for commuter³ flights, which are popular among business travelers, than for other flights. If so, the conclusion that Speedee is the best choice for the business traveler would be seriously undermined.
Secondly⁴, the author’s claim that “Speedee now offers more flights to more destinations than ever before” is too vague to be meaningful. We are not informed how many flights or how many destinations were previously⁵ offered or how many are offered now. Moreover, the article makes no comparison with other airlines regarding these features. Without these comparisons, the claim is worthless as a reason for choosing Speedee over another airline.
Thirdly, the article fails to indicate how long ago the industry began requiring airlines to report on-time rates. If the requirement was imposed recently, then the brief reporting period may be insufficient⁶ to show that the airlines’ relative on-time performance will continue in the future. Moreover, the article fails to provide evidence that all airlines, regardless of on-time record, actually reported, or that the reports are accurate.
In conclusion, the article’s claim that Speedee is the best choice for the business traveler is unsubstantiated and may be too hasty. To better evaluate the article’s claim, we need more information about Speedee;s other features that contribute to its overall appeal, about its on-time record for commuter flights specifically, and about the integrity and length of the reporting upon which the ranking was based.

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