Flying is fun this summer!

Asiana Airlines, out of South Korea, is going to offer a very different in-flight experience to its passengers this summer. The in-flight crew on 52 flights will be dressed up as pirates and serve passengers colorful exotic drinks.

There will be eight different teams, providing in-flight entertainment with a difference. These teams will perform magic tricks, tell the future using Tarrot cards, draw passengers’ caricatures and even conduct an on-board fashion show with traditional costumes from popular holiday destinations.

But my favorite is that interested passengers can even “exeprience the life of a flight attendant”. I’m sure that’s going to be popular. Children will get a special treatment too. They’ll enjoy everything from face paint to origami sessions!

The in-flight experience differentiator

When I designed the 6X airline branding model, the basic tenet behind “Brand eXperience” was the fact that airlines, unlike most other brands, have a unique advantage of holding their target audience captive for two to twenty-two hours! My brand interaction with a Coke can is five minutes. With Starbucks coffee is about 30 mins.

And this presents a unique opportunity for the airline to impress the customer and treat him like a VIP. Few airlines have leveraged on this, namely Singapore Airlines, Southwest Airlines and Volaris Mexico. Fortunately, Asiana has stepped into this club, by enhancing the in-flight experience, even if for the summer.

My gut-feeling is that this effort by the airline will be a roaring success, and they will retain all, if not most, of these special in-flight activities. So much more fun than staring into the galley, when you’re done watching movies on the small screen. The next thing Asiana should be thinking about how to get all these efforts viewable to millions online!

There couldn’t have been a better testimony of the fact that an airline brand is what it does, not what it says it does.

So, what do you think about Asiana’s initiative? Isn’t it a refreshing effort? Why aren’t other airlines doing something like this? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)