McDonnell Douglas MD-11, N1767A, Approaching r/w 27L, London, Heathrow,
At a time where airline’s frequent flier programs are becoming less friendly with higher charges, more miles required to redeem free flights, and more restrictions, American Airlines has decided to try something new and make it easier for its fliers to redeem their miles.
American Airlines is now allowing passengers to easily redeem one-way tickets for half the miles a round-trip ticket takes. This will open up many more options for those that only need a one-way flight, but wasn’t able to easily or cheaply do it with their miles. This should also make it easier to find a free seat on an airline. For if a person was booking a round trip “miles flight” and one of the legs had no more free slots, the entire itinerary would be denied. Now, it allows more flexibility.
Airline analysts think American Airline’s move will help to booster their AAdvantage membership by millions and will cause a ripple effect to other airlines, forcing them to follow suit. This should bring up revenue for additional passengers who want to build up their miles and also via partnerships with hotels and rental car companies who purchase miles for airlines.
It took about a year for American Airlines to make the changes to their system to handle the one-way ticketing and they expect it to take another year before seeing other airlines providing direct competition.
Source: MSNBC Image: Bonedome
Does Southwest Airlines giving out free drink coupons help them to acheive #1 status?
According to the Customer Service Satisfaction Index, airline passengers feel the airlines are doing a 3.2% better job in customer service compared to the year before.
Although fees are up, the numbers of passengers are down. This means less lines, fewer bumped people, and more room since you might have no one sitting in the center seat.
Southwest Airlines was #1 for customer satisfaction for the 16th year in a row with it’s highest rating ever. The biggest gainers were Delta Airlines, US Airways, and Continental who improved by margins of 6.7% to 9.7%. American Airlines saw the largest decrease (3.2%) and United Airlines ended with the lowest overall score for the year.
It will be interesting to see if the airlines can keep this positive trend going, since hopefully by next year we’ll have a strong economy and fuller planes (and lines).
Source: USA Today Image: tsmyther
AMERICAN AIRLINES Airbus A300 & Boeing 777 at JFK, New York, USA. Sept 2008.
At a time where airlines are cutting jobs, services, airplanes, while raising fees – it seems odd that American Airlines has decided to move forward with paying out $14million in bonuses — or does it?
There is no denying that moral at some airlines are reaching record low levels. About 72,000 American Airline employees might feel a little less down when they see their performance based bonuses (averaging $200).
According to American Airlines, the incentive program seems to be working – with customer service up 3% and on-time service up 23%.
I think it can be hard for airlines to realize what their greatest investment can be…not planes, new technologies, or routes, but investing into their employees. On a flight with all the “toys,” no fees, and on the newest plane can be great, but if the customer service received is horrid, it can leave a very lasting impression.
Source: Business Week Image: Tom Turner
Flight 891 from Buffalo. This plane was delivered to Eastern Airlines on 11/30/1979 and transferred to Delta in 1991
Although it is frustrating at times, I understand when airlines have had to send jobs overseas to help them survive.
Delta, in a rare showing, is now doing the opposite — and at a good time nonetheless! They are no longer outsourcing their reservation call center to India and will be moving the jobs back to the US.
There will still be call centers in Jamaica and South Africa, but staffing would most likely be reduced there as well in the future.
When Delta outsourced their call centers to India in 2002, they estimated saving $25million per year, which is nothing to sneeze at.
However, customers made it clear they weren’t happy with the service they received from the call centers in India. “The customer acceptance of call centers in foreign countries is low, and our customers are not shy about letting us have that feedback,” said Richard Anderson, Chief Executire of Delta Airlines.
I would imagine the number of reservation calls has greatly decreased since 2002, with most people choosing to reserve tickets online.
Source: AP Image: AV8NLVR
Sometimes it is impossible to get customer service!
With prices going up and amenities going down, it shouldn’t be too surprising that complaints are going up. Airline complaints increased about 60% from 2006 to 2007.
While the complaints increase, more and more companies are cutting call centers, outsourcing, and automating, increasing the distance from the customer to someone in the company who can do something about it.
Christopher Elliot (former National Geographic Traveler’s reader advocate) lists the 8 most common mistakes people make when complaining.
1- Frivolous grievances: complaining about stuff that is not a big deal (not the right soda, someone was a little short with you).
2- Calling instead of writing: there is no record and normally nothing good comes from it.
3- Making a laudry list: too many complaints will just make you look like a complainer and people will stop listening.
4- Wasting their time: make sure it is worth they time to make a right from a wrong.
5- Writing long: keep your complaint short and sweet.
6- Not offering a solution: let them know what would make you happy to solve this problem.
7- Being impolite: you get more flies with honey than vinegar.
8- Threatening: saying you will never fly with the airline again will do nothing.
Just know that sometimes when you complain, you will be treated well and things will be made right. Others you will be ignored. Show how you feel by not flying that airline again!
Source: CNN Image: Schmidt-Family