What a holistic reply! I’m impressed by your depth of knowledge in the area. Indeed, size does matter for an alliance, given the direct relationship with revenue size tends to have. In fact, that’s why I mention in my article that Star Alliance should position itself as the largest, and not talk so much about consistency of service.

But then, how do you think other alliances should respond? Oneworld seems to be going in a totally opposite direction – with a more cohesive, exclusive group and SkyTeam seems to be running around like a headless chicken.

I love the brash way you bring out the facts. Indeed, scale does matter – especially for operations and procurement – but at the same time customer service shouldn’t be compromised. After all, I feel airlines are in the service business more than transport business. Would you ever want to fly the “greyhound of the skies”. Probably not.

As another reader of my article stated, the ability to use FF miles across all these airlines can be a huge upside. But is it big enough an upside to compensate for the inconsistent service quality?

In fact, you might enjoy reading an interview I did with Emirates’ VP of Ops for the Americas, who believes scale is Emirates’ key strength and will not dilute customer service. http://simpliflying.com/2008/interview-with-emirates-vp-nigel-page-on-the-a380-flights-to-jfk-sfo-and-lax/

I do not think that branding is a nightmare because the brand is well established in the minds of the frequent travelers and there is enormous pull in the minds of frequent traveler to fly Star Alliance. Not every member airline will be able to give dedicated terminals but some basics will be met. Re-accomodation of a Star Alliance member being an important one in the event of a disruption. Consistency can be met in some basic areas but keeping it too high is difficult. Every airline uses a different reservations systems and at each airport the departure control system differs with the service level being more or less dictated by the ground handler.

Star Alliance is good for the airline as statistics show that 70% of the traffic worldwide is now generated through an alliance. For the new smaller airlines it is specially beneficial as it increases load factor Regional airlines may be benefiting financially but the larger airlines get more benefit.

Size matters and some level of consistent customer experience counts. So far with the bigger airlines, it has done a fairly good job. Moving forward, it remains to be seen how the newer airlines catch up. Star Alliance could also detail the level of service expected at different regions and airports and that should take care of the expectation of the passenger.

Ted Braun
Owner, FreightPath LLC

I’m sure you’d remember the Spirit Airlines incident late last year with CEO Ben Baldanza,accidentally hit “Reply to all”on a response to a consumer complaint about a delayed flight instead of just sending it to his associate. His message read:

“Please respond, Pasquale, but we owe him nothing as far as I’m con-
cerned. Let him tell the world how bad we are. He’s never flown us
before anyway and will be back when we save him a penny. “

I experienced an horrific experience in nastiness at LAX with a United Airlines (not TED) gate agent and a mobility impaired and hearing impaired traveler, one that included expletives from the mouth of the agent. When I arrived at my destination, I wrote a letter…not a diatribe mind you, a business letter citing facts, names, times, and specifics. I received a form letter that said essentially…”nice to hear from you, please fly again”. It wasn’t even signed!

I was Premier Executive then. Now I am Exec Platinum with AA.

Maria K Todd, MHA PhD
President
Global Health Care Policy Council
http://www.ghcpc.org

Only upside will be the ability to use FF points on the allied flights.