Three lessons in airline branding from Singapore Airlines, Virgin Atlantic and Delta

As a number of you who follow me on Twitter and tracked my travels on TripIt know, I’ve traveled from Singapore to London to New York to Atlanta in the past one week. My Singapore to London flight was on the brand new Singapore Airlines’ A380 (my 2nd time on this “whale” in one month!), I flew from London to New York on Virgin Atlantic B747 and the last leg was on a Delta B757. I was excited like a kid in a candy store! And took away some lessons from each airline in branding too!

Singapore Airlines – there’s a reason why they are the best

As I boarded the A380, the first words in my head were, “Recession? What recession?!” It was a full-load double-decker aircraft from Singapore to London I was getting on, with more than 450 passengers on-board. Yet, I was personally led to my seat by an Singapore Girl. My coat was neatly hung in the cabinet, and she helped me with my hand-luggage too. The in-flight service was impeccable as ever, and the quite, new aircraft was like an icing on the cake.

Just a day earlier, my colleague had flown on an earlier flight to London, but presented the wrong passport at check-in. The staff still managed to check him in, using another ID for verification, while his brother rushed to the airport to deliver the passport. The gate closes 10 mins before departure for Singapore Airlines flights and the passport finally arrived 12 mins prior. The Singapore Airlines ground-staff had a buggy ready and my colleague was rushed across the terminal to make his flight. He was the last to board. A scene right out of a thriller isn’t it? Well, if it wasn’t for Singapore Airlines, it could have been worse.

This is why Singapore Airlines is the best – impeccable and consistent brand execution. Be it dealing with a full load A380 or dealing with unforeseen circumstances – the customer always feels like a VIP. And that’s why they have my loyalty, even though I have to pay a little more.

Virgin Atlantic – Still red-hot

Remember the recent 25th anniversary Virgin Atlantic advertisements? They proclaimed to be “Still Red Hot”. I couldn’t agree more. This was the my first time with Virgin Atlantic and I must say it’s one of the best flights on the B747 I’ve had. It wasn’t just the product – the spacious feel you get as you enter through Upper Class and see the bar at the entrance – to the headrests and IFE in the Economy cabin. Even though it’s been some time since the new product was introduced, it’s still fresh. Ironically, better than some of the “new” 747 cabins I’ve been on!

What makes Virgin Atlantic stand out though is the software – the service. The flight attendants are perky, love to joke around and have fun with the passengers. I had some very interesting conversations with them. Oh, and you see cheekiness (and Richard Branson) everywhere. Be it in the safety “cartoon” video or on the socks cover. Virgin Atlantic makes a conscious effort to stand out, and it adds an X-factor to the brand that is difficult to duplicate. Very different from Singapore Airlines, just as successful.

Delta Airlines -  just being the world’s largest doesn’t help

Delta Airlines use “we’re the world’s largest airline” in a lot of their brand messaging. However, I frankly feel that’s not a strong point of distinction, simply because tomorrow United Airlines may buy US Airways and a couple more to become the world’s largest. Moreover, being the world’s largest can result in inconveniences too, if things are not handled well.

As someone who travels a lot, unforeseen circumstances inevitably happen. When I landed in the US, there was a very long queue at Immigration, so it took me a couple of hours to come out to collect my bags. My Delta flight to Atlanta was at 7.10pm, and I reached the check-in desk at 6.11pm. But the agent wasn’t able to tag my bags, since the “system” shuts down an hour before the flight. Mind you, we-the-people could still be checked in, but our bags couldn’t be tagged. Fair enough, not their fault.

I requested the agent to put me and my colleague on the next flight, which was the next morning – an agonizing 11 hour overnight transit at JFK is something I don’t fancy much. But here’s where things got interesting. The lady refused to give us a confirmed seat on that flight even though it wasn’t full. Not keen on arguing, I just took the re-validated tickets and went over to another Delta agent. Surprise! Surprise! We got our confirmed seats. Exit row too.

The flight itself was comfortable, equipped with wi-fi and had a very interesting in-flight magazine. But coming back to my original point – being the world’s largest is of no use if the staff do not go all the way to help the customer. If the second agent could help me with a confirmed seat, I wonder why the first one couldn’t. And this makes me wonder if I’d have missed my original flight in the first place, if I had gone to the second agent….

As I’ve mentioned in my keynotes before, an airline brand is what it does, not what it says it does. Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic execute well. Delta does it better than most American carriers, but there’s some distance to go.

So, what do you think? Isn’t brand execution and delivery very important? Then why do some airlines ignore it? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliflying)