A Practical Guide to Airline Customer Service. Colin C. Law

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According to statistics released by travel fare aggregator website, Flight Scanner,9 a total of 228 flights carry passengers from Bangkok to Hong Kong every week and 12 airlines offer direct service between the two cities. The majority of these airlines offer similar facilities on their flight and are competing against each other on the basis on the cost of flight tickets and the quality of the services provided.

      This shows that service is a critical factor that allows customers to distinguish the differences between airlines operating on the same route. If customers are satisfied with the service provided by a particular airline and its service agents, they are very likely to share their experiences with their friends and on social media. This creates a positive ripple effect on an airline’s brand and reputation. Great customer service also plays a part in influencing customers’ repurchase intentions and can be the deciding factor for customers who do not have a preference for any particular airline when planning their flights. Offering exceptional customer services allows airlines to:

       Turn complaints into opportunities

       Generate a positive impression

       Establish long-term relationship with customers

       Attract competitors’ customers

      On the other hand, if a customer is served badly, there will be negative repercussions.

Ambassadors vs. complainers

      An airline can turn customers into brand ambassador. Happy customers will recommend the airline to their relatives and friends, they will also write positive comments in forums and travel sites, and repurchase the airline’s services.

      On the other hand, unhappy customers can easily destroy an airline’s reputation when they spread negative messages. In fact, the majority of customers do not make a formal complaint with an airline and instead, they will share their bad experiences with their friends, post them in forum, social media platform and blogs.

      Both positive and negative posts can be spread rapidly online; customers can share their message online anytime at the check-in counter, boarding gate and even during a flight. People seem to be more interested in sharing negative posts as compared to positive ones and re-posting these messages allows the formation of public opinion on an airline. Those who have experience of a similar problem will then further elaborate the problem. In addition, when a customer posts a comment, reaction from the public is almost immediate. It is difficult for the customer to amend their post even though the airline service agent could resolve the problem later. Therefore, it is important for airline service agents to attend to customers’ needs immediately.

Research has shown that positive posts spread faster than ones. An airline that provides excellent service can easily turn online feedback into a large marketing campaign as every sad post generates an extra 1.29 negative posts as compared to a normal post. On the other hand, every happy post has an even stronger impact: if a user posts an upbeat statement, an extra 1.75 positive posts are generated.10

      An incident at Chicago O’Hare airport took place on 10 April 2017 erupted in twitter, when a passenger was dragged out from an aircraft due to an overbooked flight.

      Another customer on a flight filmed and posted the incident on social media and within 2 days the video was shared over 100 thousand times. The news has also spread to other media including the traditional media all over the world.

Satisfied customers vs. loyal customers

      Satisfaction is a measurement used to evaluate whether an airline’s performance exceeds the customers’ expectations. Satisfied customers are created when customers are happy with the products and services provided by the airline.

      Figure 1-12: Satisfied customers vs. loyal customers.

      Loyal customers, on the other hand, are those who exhibit a devoted attitude towards airlines. Such behavior results in these customers making repeat purchases, rather than choosing the competing airlines. Loyalty is created when customers are continually satisfied with an airline’s quality of service and products.

      All airlines endeavor to meet their customers’ basic expectations and to persuade satisfied customers to become loyal customers by offering additional services to increase and retain customer loyalty.

      Figure 1-13: Shift from unsatisfied to loyal customer.

      Statistics

      Below are some facts and figures on customer satisfaction and loyalty, based on a study conducted by various US companies:

       It is 6 to 7 times costlier to attract a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer.11

       54% of consumers shared bad experiences with more than 5 people, and 33% shared good experiences with more than 5 people.12

       89% of consumers have stopped doing business with a company after experiencing poor customer service.13

       Consumers are 2 times more likely to share their bad customer service experiences than they are talking about positive experiences.14

       A 5% increase customer in retention increases profits by up to 95%.15

       For every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent.16

       More than 70% of buying experiences are based on how customers feel they are being treated.17

Summary

      Majority of today’s airlines offer similar facilities on their flight. As such, they are competing with one another based on travel fare and the services offered. Excellent customer service is essential in securing customer repurchase intentions. Airlines use different strategies to turn satisfied customers to loyal customers so as to retain profitability.

Applying the knowledge

      True or false?

      Are the following statements true or false? Put a tick in the right column.

Statement	True	False
1. Customers are satisfied when their expectations are met.
2. Service environment refers to the service landscape in which customers are in direct contact with airlines’ products.
3. Ambience refers to the social environment that influences customers’ perception СКАЧАТЬ В начало < 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 > В конец