Blog 
I had the privilege of delivering the closing keynote presentation at the ALTA Leaders Forum (ALTAForum) this year. It was held in lively Panama City. Addressing an audience of top airline executives from almost every airline in Latin America, my point was simple – airlines can be remarkable or invisible. There’s no “good enough”. An airline can choose to go that extra mile and make an experience remarkable. Or do just what everyone else does and be invisible. It’s a lesson I’ve learned based on airlines featured in my book, SOAR – which ALTA had bought for every attendee at the conference.
In order to be remarkable, it is important to understand the traveler of today. The silent traveler. The enraged traveler. Only then will airlines be able to win these customers over. Specifically, I had three tips for airlines to get started:
- Respond. Now! Now! (Case study: American Airlines)
- Join the conversation (Case study: Aeromexico)
- Communicate transparently and often (Case study: Avianca, Singapore Airlines)
Here, I share the full presentation from the summit.
Here are some tweets from the conference that give a nice summary:
Meet the silent traveler #ALTAForum @simplishashank @SimpliFlying pic.twitter.com/eNKP51dL5J
— Cristiane Dart (@CristianeDart) October 30, 2018
.@SimpliFlying’s Shashank communicating openly with the #ALTAForum today pic.twitter.com/NSvQW7eTtN
— Edward Russell (@e_russell) October 30, 2018
Very nice meeting you @simplishashank and enjoyed your keynote very much can’t wait to start cracking my @SimpliFlying copy #ALTAForum pic.twitter.com/B4YPHa4Kve
— Santiago Saltos (@ssbsc8) October 30, 2018
You can get your own copy of SOAR here. If you already have a copy, then I’d be humbled if you’d please post a review on Amazon.