Customer satisfaction: the beginning of a radical change for Ryanair?
Ryanair is not known for the quality of its customer service nor its interest in customer satisfaction. It sometimes provokes very violent reactions from dissatisfied customers. However, the Irish airline has just announced the creation of a Customer Advisory Panel to improve its service. Could this be a change in Ryanair’s marketing strategy? It is indeed not the first time that Ryanair gives voice to its customers. But...
Marketing strategy: Pay-What-You-Want applied in the airline business
Here’s an interesting Pay-What-You-Want (PWYW) initiative launched by Brussels Airlines (an airline of the Lufthansa group) to promote its premium tickets (if you want to know more about the concept of Pay-What-You-Want look at those two examples : the first one in the press sector, the other one in e-commerce) It offers customers who have already booked a flight to bid the price they want to get an upgrade (either business...
The single most loyal customer American Airlines wanted to get rid of
Some customers are better than others and need to be very well taken care off. But not Steve Rothstein. For American Airlines this customer was the one to get rid of and American Airlines did spend a lot of efforts to kick that customer out after he had flown 10,000 flights in first class with the airline. Discover this amazing story below. Probably the single most loyal customer Rothstein bought a lifetime AAirpass in 1987 for...
Ryanair: the best complaint letter ever sent + tips to get compensated
Complaints are important for companies aiming at improving customer satisfaction and loyalty. Yet, most companies don’t answer complaints (50-60% according to the interview of Prof. Davidow you can listen below), which is a very frustrating experience for complainants. This is what you should expect if you ever want to complaint to Ryanair. What you also may expect from Ryanair’s answer to your complaint is a defensive attitude....
Can a normal airline still compete with a low-cost pure player ?
After SN Brussels Airlines announcement to launch a low-cost alternative, Air France tried to do the same but the plan was stopped by 2 weeks of strike (which may have cost up to 300m€ according to newspapers). Yet what you observe on the market is that low-cost has become the dominant business model. Ryanair had been the undisputed leader for years (in terms of profit) and became the #1 airline in Europe. This year EasyJet took...
Customer satisfaction for airlines : safety announcements made attractive
If you’ve travelled on a plane recently, you had to undergo a session of safety announcement before the plane took off. That’s a legal requirement. Most probably you’ve undergone a regular –boring- session of safety instructions that few passengers actually listen to. That part of the in-flight customer experience is, to say the least, not very satisfying and most probably will not be a trigger for you to remain loyal. Yet, some...
How to transform a negative moment in a positive customer experience
Today we wanted to finish the week on a positive and joyful note. Today’s post is inspired by KLM, the Dutch airline. There are many frustrating experiences that can happen when you travel by plane, and insatisfaction can arise for many different reasons. Loosing something in the airport, forgetting something on the plane (think about your keys, your smartphone) can lead to intense negative emotions. Fixing what one may see as a...
Competition is jealous of Ryanair’s success
Ryanair’s competitors become aggressive in their communication and mimic the Irish company’s own style. Ryanair’s competitive advantages (prices and on-time flights, although the statistics of the latter can be considered manipulated as Ryanair’s flight durations are systematically overestimated) are hard to attack even for competitors of the low-cost segment. Easyjet therefore decided to attack Ryanair’s Achilles’ heel, that’s to say...
Ryanair pees on competition
After newspapers reported Gerard Depardieu urinated in a bottle while in a plane ready to take off, Ryanair released an advertisement on its French website where they declare the companys pees on competition. My take: Is this the first airline in Europe? It remembers me this picture I took a few years ago when I had no other choice than taking a Ryanair...
SN Brussels Airlines wants Ryanair’s customers
Times are hard. Ryanair went from a low-cost low-reputation airline to to indisputed number 1 airline in Europe. Logically there are a few people out there who are really jealous. Retaliation actions are slowly beginning to take place and I saw one of them at Ciampino (Rome) airport last week. Have a look...
Fedex is getting better
I was in a meeting with Fedex a few weeks ago at the Cologne Hub and it seems that the business is getting better (at least in the US° for them. Memphis employees have indeed received a bonus this year, the first in 4 years, whoch is a sign that things are not going that bad. Actually when you think about it, the express transport industry might undergo a new consolidation phase. On the one hand DHL is not doing well, it left the US...
How does Air France – KLM deal with customer’s satisfaction?
After I blogged last week about Accor and the way they deal with satisfaction in their annual report, I thought it might be interesting to do the same exercise for another company. Researches based on the analysis of annual reports have already been published in an attempt to reveal emerging themes (like ethics and ecology) and discrepancies between the official discourse and the reality. It seemed to me valuable to apply the same...
When your customers retaliate … here’s what happened to United Airlines
There are two kinds of companies: those which listen to customers and those which don’t. The most difficult part of it, when you’re listening, is to listen to your unsatisfied customers too. It’s kind of difficult to listen to critics and to accept them respectfully and sincerely. One company that apparently hasn’t really got this is United Airlines. The story below has received important media coverage in North America but little in...
Customer experience: a Fedex’ priority
I was in a meeting at Fedex German HQ in Francfort and I was pleased to see a poster on the walls with the company’s goelas for the next 5 years. Among them was an improvement of the customer experience. Well, it doesn’t surprize me really. The marked is pretty much divided between 3 players : Fedex, DHL and UPS. A myriad local players are trying to get into this market and rip off some benefits. The 3 giants pretty much...
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