A Tale of Two Airlines

My wife and I recently flew to Detroit to visit my daughter at the University of Michigan (Go Blue) in Ann Arbor.  Our daughter attending Marquette University (We Are Marquette) in Milwaukee was also going to fly in to join us.  To coordinate the arrival and departure times of the 2 schedules it was necessary for us to fly a certain airline that will remain nameless.  I'll call it Acme Airlines for purposes of this posting.

When we arrived early at the airport we learned that our flight would be delayed 40 minutes in order to comply with regulations on crew rest time (so much for coordinating arrival times).  This triggered a number of interesting observations:

• My wife who doesn't fly much commented that she doesn't like to fly Acme - "They are always late".  She isn't a frequent flyer but still quickly picked up on the issues Acme has with on-time performance
• While waiting, I noticed a cart with phones in the waiting area.  The cart was labeled something to the effect of being for "Customer Re-booking" and I recalled seeing similar carts throughout the Acme gates at many airports.  To me this just screamed - we might as well leave these out because you'll probably be late and will need these soon.
• The flight delay actually was 50% longer than they estimated - it was 60 minutes late in leaving.  Knowing well in advance when the crew would be available and how long it takes to prepare and board a plan you would think they should be able to more reliability estimate the delay.  I truly believe this could be done but apparently Acme couldn't.
• While waiting at baggage claim I overheard a gentleman mention to his traveling companion that neither the gate agent or pilot mentioned or apologized for the delay.  Apparently a 1 hour delay is considered to be within the "normal" range and not worthy of note.

Somehow a tolerance for apathy and mediocrity has taken over Acme and it is in my opinion slowly strangling the company.

Compare this to one of my favorite airlines, Continental.  I met Ron Anderson-Lehman, Continental's CIO, at a recent Houston Planning Forum luncheon and relayed my experiences to him and he told me how Continental is handling this situation.  Continental has Service Desks in their area that they staff with real live people (no talking to a disembodied voice) when needed. But (and this is where it gets interesting) that is not good enough!  When your plane is late and you will miss your connection why wait until you land to start handling the situation?  Continental is working on a system to re-book your missed connection while your are still in-flight.  When you land a customer service agent will be at the gate to help you.  Using a kiosk at the gate you will be able to scan your boarding pass to quickly get your re-booked connections.  Why add to the frustration of missing a flight by making you stand in a long line to re-book.

It interesting to see how two airlines view the same problem.

• One in effect says your flight is late - so what?
• The other says we are going to be late - how can we improve things!

Guess which airline rates higher in customer satisfaction.  Guess which airline is doing better financially.  Guess which airline I'll fly when I have a choice.

A tolerance of mediocrity and apathy is contagious.  We must constantly fight to stamp it out.  We can not prosper by accepting things as "that's just the way it is".  Being in IT we have to be relentless in looking to see how new applications of technology (as Continental is doing) can help to improve the business.

What are your thoughts?