American Airlines has taken a pretty big hit lately because of their $15 fee for your first suitcase. Of course, flying today is a general nightmare for the most part. In general, the airline industry is showing some of the worst customer satisfaction numbers in history. Here's a great quote from the Ad Age article:
Mr. Fornell said consumers' hopes for a positive airline experience have become so diminished that the business plan for any airline wanting to distinguish itself from the competition needs to follow is a simple one. "Bring your passengers to their destinations on time with their luggage," he said. "Nobody has higher expectations than that now." (Emphasis mine)
But here's as so frustrating about things like this. When things are going well, most brands aren't out there trying to do things for the customer either. There's no real relationship being developed. I happened to be in London during last year's crisis at Northern Rock bank and he's what I observed then:
It does beg the question as to how much loyalty Northern Rock created with it's customers before this all began. Too many brands use a crisis as the first real time they reach out to say "Hey, we're here for you. Help us get though this and we'll be there for you when it's all over." But when the crisis is over, they go back to business as usual. Do you think they'll offer to drop the interest rates on their mortgages for people who leave their money where it is? Or will they send your nasty notes when you're a day late with your mortgage payment?
So to American Airlines I would say this. The reason you're not getting any sympathy for all of your troubles, even legitimate ones like much higher gas prices, is because we don't have any reason to give you that sympathy. You've never really been there for us. You ask us to make sacrifices for you all the time. But every time we've ever asked you for help, you almost always say no. Show up late for a flight and you almost never say "Hey, no problem, we're just put you on the next flight." No, usually you say too bad, you'll need to pay the change fee, blah, blah, blah. I can't tell you how many times I've had a chance on other airlines to change to an earlier flight flying into a different airport in NYC and been told that I'll have to buy a new ticket. All convenience for them, none for me.
So, now you need our help and you just don't understand why we're not supporting you in this time of need. Well, after years of a one-way friendship, we're just not that into you!
Link: American Takes Flak Over Bag Fee, Despite PR Strategy - Advertising Age - News.
Your take on the flak that American is receiving is spot on. The only thing worse than not earning a performance reward from your customers because you solve a real need is expecting your customers to reward you when you punish them.
Posted by: Linda Ireland | July 21, 2008 at 07:10 PM