SXSW Interactive Festival Begins

12 Mar’10 || FOX 7
Southwest Festival began on Friday with tech savvy professionals, including  Shashank Nigam and Michelle Banter, at numerous panels and discussions. One of the co-founders of Twitter, Dom Degola, was one of the featured speakers… read more

Asia, Mid East to help aviation industry soar

11 Mar’10 || Today
… “Air Asia is booming ahead, their latest joint venture was in Vietnam. Tiger Aiways just went IPO, they have new money, new planes coming in, they’re going to expand in the region. South-east Asia, certainly look out for it. India, a lot of domestic airlines will soon be able to fly international, which means a lot of budget airline growth in the region,” said Mr Shashank Nigam, founder and chief executive officer of Simpliflying… read more

Low Cost Airlines World 2010 Asia Pacific Conference

If you are a member of the press and wish to quote SimpliFlying, please email to media@simpliflying.com

For more quotations on aviation/ branding/ travel media, check out Media Mentions archive.

Chile has been in the news for the past couple of weeks, due to the earthquake. And then due to the resilient efforts of the Chileans in bringing the country back to its feet quickly. And the aviation community, lead by IATA is also doing its part by going ahead with FIDAE – the Chilean Airshow – and the Wings of Change conference, despite the damage incurred during the earthquake. One of the aims is to get visitors back to Chile as soon as possible. And yours truly is going to be there too.

I’ve been invited to deliver a workshop and speak on how airline brands can drive engagement, loyalty and revenues from the latest Web 2.0 technologies. In conjunction with that, IATA has kindly agreed to give away two free passes to FIDAE (the airshow) and Wings of Change (the conference) to SimpliFlying readers (yes, you!).

Read on to learn how you can be part of this celebration of resilience in Chile too, and rub shoulders with the likes of Patrick Murphy, former Chairman of Ryanair and the CEO of LAN Airlines.

How to win two passes to attend Wings of Change and FIDAE?

It’s simple. Just do either of the two things below.

1. On the blog: Leave a comment on this article answering this question: Which is the foremost challenge Latin American airlines face today and how would you solve it?
2. On Twitter: Follow @SimpliFlying and Tweet to us in 140 chars Which is the foremost challenge Latin American airlines face today. In your Tweet, you must mention @simpliflying (for tracking) and the URL for this article (http://bit.ly/FIDAE)

It’s that simple. Two winners will be announced on 19 March 2010, through a lucky draw. So the more you Tweet, and the more you comment, the better the chances of winning.

So, what’re you waiting for? Get started right now. And you never know, we might just meet face to face in two weeks in Chile!

Over on Twitter, I was alerted to a letter published in Business Traveller Magazine where a customer had sent in a legitimate complaint letter to United Airlines, sharing his experience of poor service in Business Class and suggested that more investments be made into customer service training.

It was great that United Airlines actually responded to the letter in the magazine itself. And that’s where the positives ended. Of the five key points raised by the customer, only one was directly addressed. In fact, the response went on to totally digress from the topic and talked more about the airline’s new premium cabins, and not customer service. That got me thinking, it’s probably not just the cabin crew at United who needs lessons in customer service, but even folks from Corp. Comms.

This is very ironic, because just a couple of weeks ago, at the Loyalty 2010 event, while having lunch with Robert Sahadevan, United’s VP of Loyalty, I was very impressed by the focus they have on their frequent fliers and premium passengers. Hence, this response was disappointing, to say the least.

I thought I’d do my bit here for United (and help other airlines too, who need to get their basics right – you know who you are)

Step 1: Listen to the customer

The key word here is LISTEN. Not look. Not hear. But listen. The difference is stark. If you look or just hear, then you hardly absorb any of the content, let alone understand. It’s very important to seek get an idea of why the customer is saying what he’s saying.

Step 2: Identify the key issues mentioned by the customer

Once you’ve listened to him, identify the key issues the customer has expressed – both positive and negative. In this case, there are five key issues, as I’ve highlighted below (click on the image for larger font). They include the Business Class passenger’s request for water not being answered, to the responses he received from the flight attendants.

Step 3: Address the issues

Needless to say, after the issues have been identified, they need to be addressed. Even if you intend to dodge the bullets, do it subtly. Not the way United’s response totally ignores the issues raised and goes off on a tangent. It almost seems to me as if a United Airlines Corporate Sales person has written this reply!

Not only are hardly any issues been addressed, Rahsaan appears almost proud of the fact that he’s doged every bullet in his response. From his LinkedIn profile, Rahsaan seems too experienced to get this wrong. This gives me the feeling that this may have more to do with United’s policy governing Corporate Communications, than a personnel’s overlooking the issues. Which is a scary thought!

Step 4: Apologise, if you’re wrong

Nowhere does the response from United Airlines make any mention of what they’re going to do to change the situation. In fact, they don’t even accept that they’ve done anything wrong. Let alone apologize for it. Frankly, the letter seems as if it’s been written by a computer, not a person. A personal reply needs to be just that – personal.

There’s nothing wrong in apologizing if you’re in the wrong. The least United can do is to learn from the likes of Southwest Airlines and JetBlue – remember the famous video apology by then CEO David Neeleman?

Step 5: Thank the customer for his feedback

Nowhere does the United response thank the customer for taking his time to send the (very valuable) feedback. Not at the beginning. Not at the end. That’s the least they couldn’t have done, isn’t it?

—-

If you’re from United Airlines and reading this, I’d love to hear your take on this situation. Was it a one-off? May be Customer Service should be responding to such letters, not Corporate Communications.

What do you think? What are some of the best practices of airlines that do customer service right? Let’s share our suggestions with United Airlines so that they can make flying better for all of us!

Last week, I spent three days in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, hanging out with Loyalty marketing professionals from around the world at the Loyalty 2010 conference. I met a number of very talented and interesting people, from airlines, hotels and even retails chain that are trying to drive loyalty.

Also part of the event was the Loyalty 2010 Awards for the Most Innovative Loyalty program. The judges had shortlisted the Top 3, and the audience voted for the best. Air Berlin came out tops, though I think each program was very unique. And I share with you here, what makes …

This guest article is written by Oussama Salah, who is an aviation expert based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Being a Jordanian who flies around the region a lot and works in the sector, he shares his thoughts how the proposed sale of two Gulf carriers may or may note be a good idea.
——-

In the last week two governments in the Middle East have declared their desire to sell their national carriers within a relatively short period, about one year. Well it ain’t gonna happen.
Gulf Air goes on sale
Twenty days after Mumtalakat (the investment arm of …

Mishandled baggage: mission accomplished?
25 Feb’10 || MSNBC
… In 2009, there were fewer passengers, fewer flights and, therefore, fewer checked bags to be mishandled. All those new checked-bag fees, according to SimpliFlying’s Shashank Nigam, caused “many passengers to stop checking-in [any] bags unless absolutely necessary … and frequent fliers to travel light,” unless they can take advantage of elevated mileage status and check their bags for free. “That’s the secret behind the numbers,” he said… read more

Marketing special report: Social media
19 Feb’10 || Airline Business

… A return on investment is only one way to gauge the success …

Today, a number of airline accounts were hacked. First, NYC Aviation pointed out that United Airlines was sending out malicious tweets. Later, I received a Direct Message from Brussels Airlines, with exactly the same message, with the URL taking users to a sexual enhancement website.

Staying true to the real-time nature of social media, within minutes, the news of hacking was doing rounds all over the internet. Of course, it’s only to be expected, when United Airlines …

If you’re already up and running on Twitter, Facebook or other social media tools, a great way to augment your social media efforts is by tapping on one of the hottest trends around, location based services (“LBS”). Location based social networking is something VERY well suited for airlines. Just like “Tweets” was the buzzword of 2009, by the end of 2010, I expect “Mayor” to be the buzzword. And, these services are made to work well in the travel industry.
Popular Location Based Services
If you’re unfamiliar with LBS, here are a few that are popular, including a …

• The “Jetstar-isation” of Qantas is not over yet. Is the LCC taking over the legacy parent brand?
  Jetstar's profits tripled, while Qantas struggled to make a profit. Is QANTAS becoming a member of the Jetstar group? Grant McHerron questions.
  
  
• Five ideas for Garuda Indonesia to drive demand from Europe, by rebuilding its brand (Plus: Interview with CEO Emirsyah Satar)
  Garuda Indonesia is a brand on a roll. But before re-launching their new destinations to Europe, they need to build trust around the brand. And here're five ways to do that.
  
  
• Australia’s Qantas Airways – the world’s most agile airline brand?
  Alan Joyce, the CEO, says the carrier has done better than most of its rivals. And it has, indeed, thanks to its agility. They cut costs, are removing First Class and leveraging well on Jetstar
  
  
• Must-have elements for your airline’s or airport’s social media policy
  Now that you've had a chance to digest the imperatives of a social media policy from my article last week entitled "Five Imperatives For Your Airline's Social Media Policy", we decided to write a follow up post with additional considerations for inclusion. Again, these are must-have elements that make your social media policy very user-friendly.
  
  
• Chris Brogan tweets, JetBlue replies. Kevin Smith is upset. Southwest VP calls him. The common man speaks. The airline brand listens.
  JetBlue and Southwest have both been beacons of change in the industry, and they've shown a more human side of airlines - generally considered faceless corporations. Kudos to their efforts to connect with the customer directly, and truly listen. I think it shows where the future of customer service is heading.