There are delicate balances to be had all around the travel industry, especially when it comes to dealing with customers.
But no more so than when flights are delayed or cancelled and passengers are left dealing with both their own disappointment and the often problematic task of getting their journey rescheduled.
Travel technology providers such as 15below have long been at the sharp end (although behind the scenes) of such scenarios, with the UK-based company powering the systems for the likes of Ryanair, Thomas Cook, Qantas and JetBlue's passenger notifications.
Simple text alerts and other forms of communication to air passengers when a flight disruption occurs are nothing new, but there are some interesting opportunities for airlines to consider as technology evolves to allow them to have a deeper relationship with and knowledge of the customer.
And, ultimately, ease some of the annoyances associated with a flight disruption.
A roundtable hosted by 15below at the Aviation Festival in London last week attempted to highlight some of the ideas emerging in this area.
The following are some of the key points and some further analysis from those discussions:
- As more data becomes available from third party sources, pre-warnings to passengers should be a consideration. In particular, notifications about potential weather issues that could impact on a flight might initially be a disappointment to passengers but a forewarning at least shows a carrier is keeping passengers up to date.
- Depending on the scale of a disruption (affecting an entire fleet or perhaps just one route), airlines should always quickly establish if the best approach is to notify customers via text, email or an actual customer service agent. A human and sympathetic voice will always trump the written word.
- Building a better profile of a customer allows airlines to curate the type of messages going out to passengers in the event of a flight disruption. For example, if a passenger is travelling for business there is a lower chance that they would want to know options for rescheduling on a new flight in a few day's time. Or, alternatively, leisure travellers may be less inclined to accept an alternate airport miles away when their hotel has been selected for its beach-front location in a particular destination.
- Storing existing flight disruption data for a passenger can allow airlines to modify the language in a notification. If a customer has experienced a delay on the same route on an earlier occasion, acknowledge (and apologise!) that and tailor the refund or rescheduling options accordingly.
- Turning a negative experience into a positive one might sound a bit too opportunistic, but airlines do have an opportunity to at least show they understand a passenger's situation... and care about it. For example, if a family is disrupted from a delay or cancellation, offer them a voucher for a meal in the airport (if the delay is just a few hours) or a discount in an appropriate store in the terminal for each passenger (as the airline will know the ages, etc). Longer delays may require something more substantial for the group in their eventual destination. Data mining is critical.
Ultimately, knowing more about passengers is at the heart of the next wave of managing flight disruption in a efficient and caring way.
Having a strategy around around understanding the so-called "customer lifetime journey" will allow airlines to not only establish a better way to market to passengers during business-as-usual, but give them a far better ability to manage disruption in a more personal (and, hopefully, efficient and valuable) way.
NB:Flight disruption image via Shutterstock.