Over the last twelve months there have been a slew of reports about Airlines forcing customers off planes, cancelling flights with no provision for travelers and more, so, so much more.
You may wonder why
airlines have suddenly been in the news for all the wrong reasons and worse
still most of it was entirely avoidable!
American Airlines,
British Airways, United Airlines and Ryanair are four of many, who have come to
grief over the last year.
Why?
Airlines operate in a
highly complex and regulated industry. International agreements govern the
industry, health & safety, security & tight profit margins and all have
contributed to the problem.
The main problem is
that Airlines have lost focus on the customer.
Some seem to be forgetting
to remember they are commercial operations to make a profit and they do this by
providing a service to their customers.
United Airlines “Fly the unfriendly skies”
In the case of United
Airlines, being the first of
these reports to hit the headlines.
It was a video of security dragging a customer off a flight due to overbooking. Worse still the overbooking was due to staff was traveling on a “dead leg”.
It was a video of security dragging a customer off a flight due to overbooking. Worse still the overbooking was due to staff was traveling on a “dead leg”.
I have worked in the
Travel & Tourism for over thirty years and I could never understand the
Airlines setting loading levels at 103-104%. Purely on the basis that if I am
flying I need to fly on that flight I have booked, I have never traveled with
the intention of delaying my travel!
Airlines got away
with it over the years because they would offer enticing offers for people to
shift their travel arrangement (financial recompense, free hotels with board
provided, upgrades on future flights etc.).
What has changed is
the mindset that they have a right to offload passengers and when this came to
a head they used security as an excuse to forcibly remove the passenger.
“Make American great again”
American Airlines
also have fallen foul to PR disasters as well.
First up is when they
ejected a woman wearing a “Black Lives Matter” t-shirt. She had queried why
non-English speaking passengers could not sit in the exit row. The flight
attendant reported she felt threatened by the passenger.
Second up is Briana
Williams who was reportedly ejected because she was involved in a standoff with
staff. This happened when she asked staff for the stroller for her 4 month baby
to be off loaded when they had a long delay.
This is basic
customer service, if they could explained why the stroller could not be
offloaded and then offered assistance in the airport for the mother & baby,
this may have been a much better solution.
I have flow with
American Airlines and they use to have a reputation for being among the best
for customer service. Not any more, in one fell swoop they have destroyed a
hard won reputation that dates back over forty years.
Ryanair “Need somebody to love”
Ryanair is a
different story, famously cost focused, the boss Michael O’Grady famously
refuses staff to buy pens out of company funds.
This extended to
their staff contracts and tight scheduling of turnarounds. When they made a
mistake in the scheduling they could not match the staff to flights, in this case pilots
to planes.
The pilots refused to
change their schedules as Ryanair had also lost the goodwill between management
and staff.
This has been
compounded by the loss of pilots to rival airlines offering better working
conditions.
This resulted in the
cancellation of thousands of flights and caused many customers to be stranded
abroad.
My view on low cost
airlines is they are not the same as traditional scheduled airlines.
They operate out of
the cheapest slots and the secondary hub airports for major destinations, in
some cases over 60km from the “named” city on the advertising.
That is like flying
to London and actually using Birmingham or flying to Washington and arriving in
Richmond.
In the beginning they
operated charters to certain airports for a set period. This meant they avoided
all the costs of having to commit to rescheduling customers if flights were
cancelled. Ryanair still have this mindset, yet now they are a scheduled
airline.
This came back to
haunt them in 2017.
BA “The World’s Cleanest Airline!”
British Airways has
been hit with a slew of reports relating to bed bugs and cleanliness, apparently
according to the news reports this is linked to a change in the cleaning
contracts.
BA are still
advertising as if nothing has happened, they are still projecting themselves as
upmarket service with high customer service standards. A quick check on forums
and trip advisor tells a different story.
I wonder if the marketing
department actually checks with these forums or their own customer service
department to gauge customer feedback, before creating these campaigns.
The point is that all
of this is entirely avoidable by focusing on the customer. Remembering that as
a business, long term profit and margin is reliant on making the customer
happy.
Yes, the airlines
operate in a highly regulated environment but providing customer service should
be their top priority.
This can happen in
competitive conditions such as:
·
Be
honest and up front with the true cost of the flight. Having a low headline
cost with lots of hidden add-ons erodes customer goodwill.
·
Be
upfront with the service levels, a low cost airline is not the same as a
scheduled carrier. Luggage restrictions are tighter, food and drink is not
included, destination airports may not be as well connected for example.
·
Treat
the customer with respect and they will respond in kind.
·
Set
loading levels sensibly, don't have 104% levels on busy routes or at busy
times. When caught out splash the cash as it is the airlines fault not the
customers. Personally I think no flight on main routes should exceed 100%
loading levels.
·
Once
a customer has boarded don't forcibly remove them for the flight being over
booked and especially if it is due to staff on “dead legs”.
·
Plus
don't harm them in the process! The video of this event beggars belief!
·
Don’t
cut cost at the expense of customers, customers expect planes to be safe, clean
& staffed sufficiently. Sometimes “outsourcing” equals losing control.
·
If a
customer has a query that can’t be fulfilled, try and find a solution that is
acceptable to the customer. If you can’t do it yourself, find another member of
staff who can. (American Airlines, are you listening?)
Finally, have
customers finally starting realising the differences and will they change their
buying habits as a result… Only time will tell.
ZENIF has an expertise in customer service
and uses the “Customer Service Twist©”
to help business achieve exceptional customer service.
