The Midwest Cookie – a brand icon
When I used to live in Boston a few years ago, a number of my friends used to fly Midwest Airlines to destinations in the Northeast. And they never mentioned anything about the flight other than the cookies and their warm smell floating down the cabin at 35,000ft.

I thought that was very unique, and while I personally never had the chance to fly Midwest, once I became part of the aviation industry, I met lots of executives who absolutely loved the airline for its cookies. Now, that’s a brand icon that’s hard to duplicate: what’re more, it makes for a perfect Brand X-factor, as detailed in our 6X airline branding model.

Just like Singapore Airlines has the Singapore Girl, Virgin Atlantic has Richard Branson, AirAsia has its Nasi Lemak and Porter its racoon – Midwest had its cookies, which appeals to many senses – taste, smell, touch. And most importantly, it helped form an invaluable emotional connection.

The cookies were such a huge hit that Midwest Airlines even put the dough with the same recipe in supermarkets in 2007, so that people could bake them at home. It flew off the shelf!

Alas, something that’s …

Recently, I discovered that Hainan Airlines of China has been awarded a “5 Star” status by Skytrax putting them in the same reign as Singapore Airlines and Qatar Airways. While Hainan might be a decent airline, putting it in the highest category seemed out of context. And it wasn’t just me, discussing sprouted up around the web on this. Someone on Airliners.net said that Skytrax is becoming “Skytrash”. Someone else called it “Skycash” due to allegations that airlines need to pay big to acquire a new star level.

I feel rating Hainan as Five Star was the final nail in the coffin for Skytrax. Here are three reasons why I believe Skytrax is dead:

Irrelevant – If I’m a Kobe Bryant, then the only Business Class seat that’s Five Star for me is Oman Air’s – not Asiana or any other 5-star-classified airline. Because I can fit in there. Moreover, service and products differ dramatically for airlines on different routes and sectors. Hence, airlines ratings need to be relevant – which Skytrax is not.
Not real-time- Annual ratings are no longer desirable as airline service levels can dramatically change over a much smaller period of …

Spanair delights holiday travelers
Just around when thousands were stranded at London’s Heathrow Airport and missing Christmas gatherings, Spanair had delightful surprise in store for their customers.

On Dec 24, Spanair’s flight from Barcelon to Las Palmas arrived close to midnight. And when the passengers reached the baggage belt upon landing, they were surprised to see that instead of their luggage, out came beautifully wrapped Christmas gifts, each specially packed for each passenger and tagged individually too. Now, wouldn’t you be delighted if this happened to you? Just see the reaction of the passengers in the video below, and you’ll see what I mean.

KLM Suprises digital travelers
By now, you must have heard of the KLM Surprises campaign. Here’s how it worked: KLM started delighting digital customers at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam before they boarded their flight.

After travelers announced their presence  on Foursquare or Twitter, KLM staff contacted online them to learn of their departure gate and time (1st surprise). Then, after doing some online research about …

I recently traveled First Class on Singapore Airlines from Singapore to Los Angeles. And then traveled Business Class on Emirates, from Singapore to Dubai.The former has been a dream for some time, and I was keen to learn what the real difference was. Alas, it was quite simple.

In both the flights, I felt a distinct connection with the flight crew that was serving me. I kept wondering why that was. The difference was eye contact. In Singapore Airlines, each time the Singapore Girls spoke to me, they kneeled down, looked at me at eye-level and then spoke. In Emirates, while the flight attendants didn’t kneel down, they always looked me in the eye when speaking with me or passing me something.  And coupled with a smile, it was always heartwarming. Even the smallest of interactions were a pleasure.

Quite simple isn’t it? It doesn’t cost anything to smile, and while it might take some time to kneel, it creates a lasting impression. One that often drives brand loyalty. Hence, it’s worth it.

What do you think? Why aren’t more airlines using more such gestures that …

How would you like to be served a dessert on a flight, which you created yourself? Well, now you can actually do that thanks to Cathay Pacific. The airline is encouraging its Facebook fans to submit photos and recipes of Asian desserts they’ve created, to win Business Class tickets (read review here) to Hong Kong (I wouldn’t mind that at all!), and the chance to have it served in-flight.

A fantastic way of involving the customer in the brand – what I call brand co-creation, which is now possible thanks to social media. I’m up for some home-made dessert – are you?

I still stand by my belief that Cathay Pacific is way ahead on social media, when compared to most other legacy airlines. What do you think? Anyone with a sweet tooth thinks this is a good idea? Let’s hear it in Comments or over on Twitter
P.S: Special thanks to Dennis from CX to drop me a line on this!

Have you heard of Rico? If you answered “no”, you’re missing the birth of probably a cult airline brand icon that may just reach the heights of what Richard Branson is to Virgin Atlantic, or what the Singapore Girl is to Singapore Airlines. And I’m not kidding.

When Mary Kirby first told me about Rico on Twitter, I was totally kicked – watching videos of this edgy, furry, lovable character chilling in one of Air New Zealand’s new seats. This is the same airline that brought us those body-paint safety videos and flatbed seats in Economy. Given that I was scheduled to speak at the Aviation Outlook Summit, where Rob Fyfe was present as well, I couldn’t help but corner him for a quick chat about Rico. You heard him first, on SimpliFlying

So, what do you think about Rico? A brand icon, or hot air? Let’s discuss in comments, and over on Twitter…

Lots of you must be familiar with the rapping flight attendant at Southwest Airlines – who gave a brand new twist to the decades old safety demonstration. Then we had the safety video at Air New Zealand where flight attendants wore nothing but body-paint.

Now, from the Philippines come the Cebu Pacific flight attendants dancing on Lady Gaga’s music during the safety demo. This video has received over 5million views just over the weekend, and certainly gets the passengers in the groove for the flight.

For the unaware, Cebu Pacific has a history of being quirky – like the crew performing magic tricks if the plane sits on the tarmac for too long. So yes, the dance video has gone viral, and I think it’s also well deserved – as it epitomizes the swanky brand. Great job, Cebu Pacific!

Enjoy the video! (click here if you can’t see it below)

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Great airline marketing strategies are built on the shoulders of smaller successess. Only when multiple niche markets are targeted well, does the airline fill up the plane well. For example, South African Airways targets Americans going to Zimbabwe for African safaris as a niche market for their New York – Johanesberg flights. Similarly, Air Arabia has some of its marketing campaigns geared towards family members of the South Asian labor working in the Middle East, so that they can visit often.
SAS = LGBT-friendly airline?
Now, SAS Scandinavian has targeted the LGBT community – a small, but often rich community, to showcase how friendly the airline is towards this specific group. The airline has launched a competition on a microsite where gay couples can share their love stories and win a chance to be the couple to get married on-board a flight from Stockhom to New York! Not only that, the couple will win a complete honeymoon package as well, which will also bring them to the US West Coast and put them up in luxury hotels. Now, that’s original!

Why I think this is a good …

***This is an article written and published from scratch at 35,000 ft, in-flight on Virgin America flight 342 from San Francisco to Fort Lauderdale. Made possible by Gogo Wifi. A first on SimpliFlying**

In a recent conversation with a South American airline executive, we were talking about the state of commercial airlines in the US. And the consensus we reached was that the travel experience  within the US is just bearable at best, often frustrating and most noteworthy innovations are actually taking place in other regions around the world.

Then I took my first Virgin America flight. And I stand corrected – innovation is indeed taking place in the US too. And in addition to just flying their own airlines regularly, I’d highly encourage every senior airline executive in the world to come give Virgin America a shot on their next trip to the US. And here’s why.
Red, White and Purple – ah..so..Virgin
Virgin America probably has the best in-flight product on a narrowbody aircraft (trust me…I’ve flown a lot of them). And the brand personality truly stands out!

The ambience: The number of innovations inside the cabin are astounding. The first thing that strikes you is the cabin ambience – purple …

AirAsia’s India market entry has recently created waves and lots of discussion about what this means for the future of the industry in India, specifically local airlines. I was interviewed by a leading business newspaper in India on this, and here are excerpts from that interview.
How do you think Air Asia permeates a market and wins it? Some interesting anecdotes?
When it comes to new market launches, AirAsia is one of the most innovative, not just in the region, but in the world. And I can say that confidently, having worked with a lot of airlines around the world. They don’t just have advertisements, but connect with the customers at a deeper level, having conversations about topics relevant to them, and yet creating a splash.

Take the recent Mumbai flights launch, for example. Not only was there pomp and show during the first flight, and even Bollywood was invited, at the same time, over the last couple of months, AirAsia built up a lot of interest about Mumbai and India through candid articles on its very popular blog, Planely Spoken, like “Mumbai in 3 days and 2 nights“. On the day of the launch, there was even a …