Tag Archives: customer service

I was running a little late trying to catch my Delta flight from NY to Richmond. With about 40 minutes left for my flight time, I tried the self service kiosk to check in but was unsuccessful as the cutoff time is 45 minutes prior to flight departure. Nevermind, I thought that since I have no bags to check in, the airline counter staff will be able to help me. The response I got was plain and simple, “sorry, you have missed your flight and we cannot do anything”. They didn’t even try to help me. I had to approach the customer service manager who got me a boarding pass. He was a little surprised as well that the counter staff were not able to help. 

To cut a long story short, I did make my flight but updated my Facebook page expressing my frustration with the airlines. The following comment from a friend got me thinking: 
“As customers, we have driven the industry to the lowest cost – negative profit and hence no service. Hence you get what you pay for“

While the above is true, the industry hasn’t done any innovation to generate additional revenue streams. All they have done is charge customers a range of annoying fees for checked baggage, food & beverage, making flight changes and cancellation penalties.

Here are 4 turnaround techniques that any CEO/CMO of UA/US Air/Delta should be listening to:

• Digital tray tables: Jetblue offers free DirectTV on all its domestic and international flights. All international flights have a range of programming to choose from as well. But I see very few ads (if any) along with the programming. While that is good news for the customer, the cash strapped airlines have an available source of revenue that they can tap into. Based on the customer profile, the airlines can show advertisements for partner products or services or other brands the customer may be interested in. 
• Car, Hotel, Golf and other partnerships: Either on the website, at the airport or in-flight, airlines can pitch an array of products and services to its customers. Allegiant has become a big promoter of Alamo rental cars and Sin City hotels, selling 395,000 rooms last year (The airline gets a percentage). On its Web site it also sells tickets to performances of Blue Man Group—whose logos adorn Allegiant cups, napkins, overhead bins, and crew uniforms—and tee times at dozens of golf courses. You can book tickets for other Las Vegas shows, helicopter tours, kayak trips, and tours of the Grand Canyon on Allegiant’s site. 
  This strategy, dubbed “unbundling” in the airline industry, has been mined most audaciously by Ryan air Holdings (RYAAY), the 23-year-old Irish airline that features fares as low as 5 euros ($7.73) and a seemingly endless array of revenue streams. Home or auto insurance? Foreign currency? Villa rentals? Credit cards? Ryanair pitches it—and has become one of the largest intra-European airlines in the process. 
  The crew members and airport staff can be trained and incentivized to sell such products. Some of the offers can be printed on the customer’s copy of the boarding pass.
• Identify the people who love or hate your brand: It is important to identify people who have strong feelings about your brand, either positive or negative. Brand Lovers choose you more often than your competitors. For many companies, the best customers drive over 80 percent of the business’s profitability and yet, the business generally knows very little about them. Companies like Apple, Harley Davidson and Bose are firms that have taken their brand to a cult status and charge a premium for their products. Similarly, brand haters will not only not buy your product BUT will tell 10 other people about their negative experience with your brand. 
  Once you understand why your best customers enjoy doing business with you, you will be better prepared to serve them. Reward them for their patronage so they have a continued positive experience. Similarly, talk to the haters to neutralize their negative feelings. 

• Improve customer service by listening to the customers: Airlines need to grow bigger ears. They need to listen in to customers feedback, comments and complaints to improve the customer experience. If a particular flight has been delayed, a quick email from customer service apologizing for the inconvenience caused and explaining the delay can go a long way.  
  Furthermore, the airline can offer a $10 off coupon redeemable towards future travel.

Do you think airlines can innovate to generate more revenue streams? What would you do if you were the CMO of United?

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