Can airlines deliver customer satisfaction? Not a chance!
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Posted by: Todd Hollander in Customer Satisfaction
A recent Associated Press article asked the question “Can airlines deliver customer satisfaction?” I am intrigued by this question, not only as a frequent airline customer but also as a market researcher with considerable interest and experience in customer satisfaction research.
The question “Can airlines deliver customer satisfaction?” is important because customer service used to be a major differentiator of airlines. The question is also revolutionary because it allows the possibility that customer satisfaction with air travel as it currently exists may be unachievable.
In the AP article, Air Transport Association spokesman David Castelveter says it is unfair to blame airlines for things that are beyond their control. I think he’s right. I also think that many of the factors that cause dissatisfaction among airline passengers are in fact beyond the contol of the airlines. So maybe it is not the airlines’ fault that the air travel experience has evolved to a state that is not only dissatisfying but downright unpleasant. Maybe the entire system of air travel - not just the airline’s role in it - is the culprit.
As a frequent airline passenger, I simply do not know how an airline could substantially reduce my dissatisfaction with a system that forces me to:
- Leave home hours before my scheduled departure
- Park my car a great distance from the airport entrance
- Choose either to schlep my belongings through the parking lot or climb aboard a shuttle bus that will delay me further by picking up additional travellers
- Stand in line to get my boarding pass
- Stand in another line to check my bag
- Stand in yet another line to have my identification checked and enter the security screening area
- Stand in another line for the security screening
- Remove my laptop computer from my briefcase
- Remove my cellphone from my pocket and place it in my briefcase
- Remove the few liquid items I am allowed to carry aboard the plane from my suitcase or briefcase and place them in a zip-lock bag
- Remove my shoes and belt and walk stocking-footed through security
- Remove my cellphone from my briefcase once it has been screened and put it back in my pocket
- Stuff my laptop back in my briefcase
- Put my belt back on
- Put my shoes on while standing up
- Suffer a more invasive, annoying, and time-consuming search if I fail to follow any of the safety protocols
- Either walk a great distance to my departure gate or walk a medium distance to some form of transportation that will convey me a little closer to my departure gate
- Stand at the departure gate while waiting to board the plane
- Shuffle through yet another line to have my boarding pass scanned by a flight attendant
- Drag my belongings through a clogged jetway that reeks of jet fuel in order to board the plane
- Drag my belongings through a clogged airplane that is either too hot or too cold and reeks of jet fuel in order to find my seat
- Frantically seek a few square feet of overhead space for my belongings
- Simultaneously duck my head, step over another person’s legs, sit down, and cram my briefcase under the seat in front of mine
- Suffer claustrophobia, asphyxiation, and intense heat or cold while my fellow passengers take their seats
- Wait for the flight crew to close the cabin door
- Turn off my cell phone, PDA, and other electronic devices as soon as the door has been closed
- Hope that there are no mechanical problems that will cause the flight to be cancelled or delayed
- Wait for the plane to be cleared to leave the gate
- Wait (and wait, and wait) for the plane to take off
- Wait to be told when it is permissible to turn on my laptop computer
- Wait (and wait, and wait) for a beverage
- Choose from an assortment of revolting, fattening snack foods
- Hope that the person in front of me doesn’t suddenly recline the seat and snap the display off my expensive laptop computer
- Endure the flight in a space that is cramped and uncomfortable
- Breathe the recycled respirations of every other passenger (both healthy and sick)
- Turn off and stow all electronic devices well before landing
- Listen to hundreds of people simultaneously turn on their cellphones and start sending and receiving calls as soon as the plane has landed
- Suffer claustrophobia, asphyxiation, and intense heat or cold while waiting (and waiting, and waiting) to exit the plane
- Try to remove by belongings from the overhead bin without causing harm to myself or other passengers
- Drag my belongings through a narrow aisle to exit the plane
- Drag my belongings through a clogged jetway that is either too hot or too cold and reeks of jet fuel in order to enter the concourse
- Either walk a great distance to baggage claim or walk a medium distance to some form of transportation that will convey me a little closer to baggage claim
- Try to locate the carousel upon which my baggage is supposed to appear
- Wait (and wait, and wait) for my baggage to appear on the carousel
- Hope that my suitcase is not mistakenly claimed by another traveler
- Try to remove my bag from the carousel before it goes around again and is mistakenly claimed by another traveler
- Find my way from baggage claim to ground transportation
- Try to be happy that I have arrived
The bottom line: Given all of the unpleasant aspects of the modern air travel experience, I believe that the answer to the question “Can airlines deliver customer satisfaction?” is “Not a chance!” At best, an airline can only reduce a passenger’s dissatisfaction with a system of travel that is inconvenient, uncomfortable, humiliating, and exhausting.
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