Airline feedback is broken. Everyone knows it, but nobody will admit it.
Customer feedback surveys with static questions that demonstrate the airline has no idea what the customer experience should be.
Very few airline employees have ever held elite status in their career – and that creates a significant disconnect between airline management and loyal passengers.
Endless focus groups and panels, where the people who show up do so because they’re compensated for attending.
NPS has passed its expiry date, and yet airlines still rate themselves on metrics that don’t serve their passengers.
I want to introduce a new metric.
Joy.
Consider how passenger feedback might change if the overused NPS “based on your recent experience, how likely are you to recommend blah airlines?” to be instead: “How much Joy did blah airlines bring to your life today?”
It forces the passenger to think.
See, airlines have spent the better part of 50+ years to position their brands not be “AN AIRLINE”.
Instead, airlines focus on selling themselves as experiences, destinations, connectivity and rewards. Other airlines sell price. Some sell freedom.
How many airlines talk about their fleet of Airbus or Boeing aircraft? Every major global airline has a mix of one or both of aircraft from these manufacturers. The metal tube you fly in is almost identical no matter which airline you fly!
Food is mostly the same too. IFE, inflight connectivity, seating, the sounds of the engines, the boarding process, the safety announcements, the headphones, the cabin crew — everything is almost the same on every major commercial airline.
Sure there are airlines with great food and others with mediocre food – but the boundaries which catering operate within remains largely the same for every carrier. Some airlines have amazing cabin crew, and other airlines could improve – but it’s still mostly the same.
For the past, forever years, the airline industry has been operating mostly the same way. We fly in planes today which are from 1950s designs. Seats — for the most part — have not seen massive product improvements that other industries have seen their product lineups over the years.
What airlines have been focusing on for decades — is HOW YOU FEEL about each of these individual items. Newer planes – I feel good! Quieter planes – I feel good! Attentive cabin crew – I feel good! Rewarding loyalty program – I feel good! Airlines have been trying to improve their scorecard by hyper-focusing on each of these areas to “IMPROVE THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE”.
