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 not easy to duplicate is often easy to get rid of too. And that’s what’s happening after the takeover by Frontier Airlines.

Source: The Purple Goldfish

The Cookie Crumbles (and promises are broken)

Frontier Airlines, which absorbed the Midwest Airlines brand in 2010, had promised to keep the signature cookies at that time. However, now they’ve taken an about-turn, citing costs and mis-match with the animal-oriented Frontier brand image. The executives are replacing it with animal crackers, which will also cost $1 in Economy class. How sad is that?

The number one rule of brand differentiation is that if you’re the only one in a market with a unique offering – no other airlines bake fresh bookies on-board – then keep it! Yes, it may not bring immediate gratification to the airline CFO, but certainly in tough times, the brand that has an emotional connection will come out stronger than one that has a transactional relationship with the customer. Ironically, that’s what the CFO is trying to prevent.

How could Frontier have saved this brand icon?

The withdrawal of the cookies has resulted in raging debates among fans and pragmatists online. With the benefit of hindsight, we can think of a few ways Frontier could have handled this brand icon better, and perhaps even saved the cookie from crumbling. Here are a few ideas:

1. If the cookies were a major cost, and had even a chance of getting the chop, why make the promise to keep it at all? People stop trusting a brand that makes promises but doesn’t deliver.
2. If the free cookies weren’t bringing in additional revenues, why not try charging for it first, rather than just eliminating it? Yes, people might be disappointed, but perhaps not as heartbroken.
3. Since the passengers loved the cookies so much, why not try and make additional revenues from it by continuing to place it in supermarkets and sharing revenues with the manufacturer?
4. If the animal theme matters so much for the Frontier brand, why not try making animal-shaped cookies? Perhaps they’d be a hit too.

Source: Flickr (nycblondieandbrownie)

Quoted in an article by the NY Times, Erich Joachimsthaler, chief executive of Vivaldi Partners said,

“when consumers don’t know how to judge the benefits or the differentiation of a product — I don’t know the difference between Midwest and JetBlue and United — then a meaningless attribute like cookies can create meaningful differentiation . . .The giveaway creates buzz, it creates differentiation, it increases a purchase decision.”

A hotel that gives away cookies is DoubleTree and they’ve already distributed over 250 million of them. Travelers seemed to love the Midwest cookie just as much, if not more. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see it being sold on eBay soon. In fact, don’t be surprised if a “Save Cookie” Facebook page comes up too!

Jay Sorensen, the person behind the cookies at Midwest still keeps the plaque that he received when he left the company that was signed by executives and employees. According to JS Online, it’s a picture of a cookie in a wicker basket. The caption reads: “We won’t let the cookie crumble. With fond memories and best wishes from your friends at Midwest Express.”

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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:

1. 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.
2. Not real-time- Annual ratings are no longer desirable as airline service levels can dramatically change over a much smaller period of time. Look at how Garuda Indonesia dramatically improved service in the last month. Moreover, passengers are now used to rating in real-time and also consume real-time data, which Skytrax doesn’t seem to support
3. Not peer-reviewed- In the same vain as real-time, passengers are used to reading peer-reviews to determine which airline to fly, not annual “star ratings”. In fact, recently, the UK government announced that they’re withdrawing support for hotel star ratings, because consumers prefer peer-reviewed ratings.

What does the Twitterati think about Skytrax?

Again, these are just my own opinions. To verify them, I conducted a poll on Twitter, and here are some reactions from those who took part, along with the chart summarizing the poll results.

As you can see from the results of the poll, 81% of the respondents believed that Skytrax ratings are highly irrelevant. I guess that sends a clear signal to airline managers obsessed with achieving an additional Star on the Skytrax ratings to look elsewhere.

What is the future of airline ratings?

Now that the writing on the wall for Skytrax is quite clear, we should think about the future. For starters, there are alternates like Eezeer’s NOW ratings for airlines, TripAdvisor’s airline reviews and even Zagat ratings, which are much more real-time and relevant than Skytrax. A recent USA today article also evaluated a variety of airline ratings.

So now that travelers have a lot of alternates to Skytrax, airlines looking to adhere to the next wave of airline ratings need to consider a few facts. And here are 10 of those.

1.     Each flier is different in what he/she wants in a “perfect” airline. It depends on various factors which themselves vary between various (yes, another various) airlines. Hence, the difficulty of quantifying what makes an airline good. It’s purely subjective.

2.     Business travelers often prefer extra space (think laptops, business suits, comfort) along with lounge access, free pickups – and they will rate the airline differently than leisure travelers. In fact, each micro-segment will have it’s own way of assessing the quality of the airline -from backpackers, to gramdmoms. Airlines need focused differentiation. Don’t try to be everything to everyone!

3.    Presence of multiple surveys is more confusing than enlightening. Doesn’t really help since the traveller looking for advice due to their different results and interpretations of what is “best”. And airlines need to help simplify this process.

4.     Comparisons in surveys are often not done in a uniform manner. LCCs cannot be included in the same class as legacy carriers (Zagat Survey) since they serve different purposes and will have different offerings.

5.   Consumers can often see through the PR spin by airlines about rankings. Proclaiming a winner might be the result of a magazine/survey’s prejudices. So, be truthful, and don’t try to cover up your misgivings.

6.    While ratings matter, price is still a key factor for deciding which airline to fly on – followed by schedule and convenience. Hence, sort out the basics of what value you’re offering to the customers, before dedicating resources to managing ratings.

7. Airlines should ultimately have route managers being held responsible for ratings of their specific route, over time and versus competition on that route. And that’s when the overall impact will be felt.

Eventually, not only is it difficult to identify the “best” airline, I think the question is pointless until a standardised method of measurement is undertaken. Otherwise, we might as well say oranges are better than apples (which might be true depending on the person.) The counterpoint of course is that some airlines are indeed oranges while others are apples. So can airlines be truly compared since they all tend to offer value through differentiation and will tend to do better than other airlines on some counts and worse on some other counts.

Until we can truly quantify such problems and even them out, the question of best is useless. We should stick to systems that compare airlines across a list of measures and let the traveler decide which airline to fly depending on how *he* views the relative importance of those measures.

And the reality is that Skytrax is a 90s technology that faces sunset this year – and unless they re-invent themselves to incorporate real-time peer-reviews, be transparent about their rating system and use social media to engage with customers – they’re doomed.

What do you think? Let’s discuss on Twitter and in comments.

P.S: Special thanks to Shubhodeep Pal for help with this article

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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 the person, they got a very small gift for the passenger (2nd surprise). A NYC city guide with sports bars highlighted, for a soccer fan. A glass of champagne for someone who had his 18th birthday on that day.

And the campaign worked wonders – receiving accolades from experts around the world, getting a ton of press mentions and of course, social sharing love from the travelers themselves . See the video below and you’ll see what I mean

Surprises as airline brand strategy?

Just last week, as I enthusiastically shared the KLM and Spanair adventures with a senior airline executive in Miami, he asked me a question about the applicability of such ideas to overall brand strategy. And I thought that was a very good question, which I should address here.

Think about scalability…

To create a memorable brand experience, airlines need to go above and beyond what’s expected. And a surprise delivers the punch. Remember the rapping flight attendant at Southwest Airlines? Or the dancing flight attendants on Cebu Pacific? Those were all surprises that the passengers didn’t expect – but are they scalable? Can they be repeated again and again? Consistently across the network? Scalability is the key to using “surprises” as a brand strategy for airlines.

Start small and make sense of the data…

These days, airlines have a data overload – they know a lot about their customers, though all data may not be at one place. The key is then to start small and try something fresh. And see whether it works. Measure and monitor the response. If passengers liked it, then try it again.

I’ll give you an example. If I’m sitting in the boarding lounge before my next flight, and I tweet that I feel like an orange juice, imagine my delight if I actually get an orange juice upon boarding? Or if I’ve been inconvenienced on an earlier flight, what if I get a business class meal during the next leg of my flight? Airlines already have this data, and someone just needs to make sense of it.

But then of course, there’s the concern that if they do it too often, people come to expect it, and when it’s not delivered, the effect is reversed.

So, what do you think about airlines surprising passengers? Is it a sustainable strategy, or just a gimmick? I’d love to hear your thoughts, over in the comments or on Twitter (@simpliflying)

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Image Source: Singapore Airlines

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 hardly cost anything, to win over hearts and wallets? Let’s discuss here, and on Twitter (@simpliFlying)

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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!

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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

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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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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 niche market to go after?

Simply because not too many airlines are daring enough to enter this market so boldly. Few, like Air New Zealand have specific sections on their website dedicated to the LGBT sector.

Through this wedding and contest submissions, SAS is bound to generate a significant amount of awareness of their product and open-ness to diversity for the specific market. After all, once a gay couple has submitted a video, who do you think they will ask to vote? Probably more friends who swing the other way. And that should ultimately lead to more bookings for SAS from this market.

Niche marketing gives airlines a competitive advantage, which can quickly add up over time for sustainable brand leadership.

So, what’s your niche market that your airline has been successful in targeting? Do you think this is a smart move by SAS? Let’s discuss in the comments or over on Twitter (@simpliFlying)

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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 lights and swanky music. This may be common on some interrnational airlines like Emirates, but is a rarity in the US domestically.

The IFE: The advanced IFE allows you to order food on-demand, watch movies on demand and chat with other passengers on the flight – and for things you need to pay for, you just swipe your credit card right in the IFE screen! It’s all very user friendly.

The seat: When I relaxed into my seat, it felt very comfortable. After checking Seatguru.com, I realized that they have one of the widest seat in a narrowbody aircraft… in the world… both in First Class and Main Cabin (Economy), and the seat pitch is generous too.

The Service: On the flight, I was served by Aladdin, his brother Mazen and Cheryl (see photos below). One has been flying for almost 20 years, another is a former lawyer! Mazen actually made the effort to pronounce my name right – which was impressive. Again – the personal touches made an impression.

At the airport: Even on the ground, there is a diffence. Only two airlines use the International Terminal for domestic flights from San Francisco – Virgin America, and JetBlue. Is it a surprise that they’re two of America’s favorite airlines? The good thing is that you can choose to relax in the Virgin Atlantic Clubhouse (another world beater), which is at the same terminal.

In-flight connectivity = future of IFE

The biggest revelation has been the in-flight wifi made available thanks to Gogo in-flight. Now, I know that there are a number of airlines trying it out, but only Virgin America and AirTran have implemented it fleet-wide. And that I feel is a competitive advantage, until the others catch up.

I have shared my views in the past that the future of in-flight entertainment, especially for budget airlines, might mean providing a power outlet and a wifi connection. These are both enablers. They empower passengers to use their own devices the way they want to.

And after flying Virgin America today, I feel the future of IFE is indeed in-flight connectivity. For the first time, I did not feel “jailed” in a tube. I even Skyped my mom and showed her the view from my window!

Delivering on the brand eXpectations…

Now,  you’ve probably already heard a number of the things I’ve shared here about Virgin America. After all, it’s been over two years since the airline launched all of what I’ve just experiencedfor the first time today. But that also meant I had sky-high expectations of the airline.

The good news is that they not only met the brand eXpectations (remember, the whitepaper?), but exceeded them at times too. And that in itself is an achievement.

The Verdict

If you’re in the airline industry – you need to fly Virgin America (and soon) to get a glimse of what the future looks like. If you are living outside the US, make sure you fly Virgin America on a domestic route if possible – it will be a totally different experience.

And if you are living in the US, then come fly probably the best airline flying domestically in the US.

P.S: Special thanks to Bowen Payson from Virgin America for meeting me for coffee early in the morning at the airport!

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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 special Twitter hashtag #AAroxMumbai where followers could participate in the happenings.

Moreover, when AirAsia enters a market, it tries to dominate it, first by entering multiple cities, then by adding frequencies to those cities such that it is the dominant player. Trichy, AirAsia’s first Indian destination has three flights a day to Malaysia. The airline will have almost 150 weekly flights to India before the end of the year, which will make it the 2nd most dominant airline in India, after Emirates.

It is this out-of-the-box marketing strategy, coupled with complete route dominance that makes AirAsia a formidable player in any market.

They have openly admitted loss in Middle East market entrance. Do you think all other next door markets are pretty exhausted by them so India will be key to there future?

Personally, I don’t think they’ve “admitted loss”. What they’ve done is retracted out of the market – for now. That because just a single route to Abu Dhabi couldn’t be sustained on its own, without dominating other nearby destinations. They will probably re-enter when their new A330s arrive. So, it’s not really exhaustion, but the opportunity that’s leading them to India. They’ve already conquered Southeast Asia, China and even the Australian cities they’re in.

India is the next logical choice, with AirAsia’s destinations like Bangkok, Singapore, Bali and Kuala Lumpur already popular among Indian tourists. The Indian tourist is price sensitive, and time insensitive. This means they will hunt down the cheapest bargains, even if the journey takes a little longer. This fits in very well with AirAsia’s model.

How can the Indian government promise a level playing field?

I think AirAsia entering India is a double-edged sword. While its entry is a boon for the Indian traveler and tourism in India, it might spell doom for some of the Indian airlines. Already, Air India and Jet Airways have had to slash prices to destinations AirAsia flies to. The onus now lies not on the Indian government, but the individual airlines themselves, to innovate and come out on top.

Two airlines I have confidence on are SpiceJet and Indigo. Especially the latter, given its grandiose growth plans for the next couple of years. Both airlines can soon fly internationally, and though SpiceJet is muted about its destinations, Indigo has expressed clear desire to head down to Southeast Asia – where Air Asia and Tiger Airways loom. On the west, it’s the threat of Air Arabia and FlyDubai.

A smart move by the Indian budget carriers would be to forge some sort of an alliance with AirAsia. Though code shares to India are a remote possibility, assuming the purist LCC models, a much more likely scenario would be to synchronize timings of their flights, or have a marketing tie-up for destinations beyond those the Indian carriers will fly to. For example, a passenger might fly Indigo from Delhi to Singapore (a route AirAsia is not authorize to fly), and AirAsia from Singapore to Bali. This becomes a win-win situation then.

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