Price is the number one determining factor when choosing an airline. Thanks to the emergence of low-cost airlines, flight pricing is becoming increasingly competitive, so customers have shifted their focus to other factors.
Passengers don't care much about the make or age of an aircraft. For context, four in 10 passengers don’t know the make of the aircraft they’re boarding. Besides, an airline can outfit its cabin with top-notch entertainment to influence how passengers feel about it. But there are things an airline can’t fake that are not subjective.
Customer service is one-factor customers use to evaluate the quality of an airline. It’s the top factor in keeping passengers satisfied. Customer reviews reveal several things that airlines are doing wrong regarding customer service.
Common customer service complaints among flyers are dismissive attitudes, outright nastiness, or rudeness of airline staff. Some passengers expressed displeasure at not receiving timely responses to their inquiries. Compounding these challenges is the inability of passengers to talk to a human being.
Customer service mishaps aren’t unique to the airline industry. It’s just one of many service-based industries with notoriously poor customer service. Airlines are working to escape this reputation. Current strategies include leveraging technology to connect with available customer service agents to help travelers manage logistics. Chatbots have also eased the workload of customer service personnel.
Another thing that frustrates many flyers is delayed flights. While many travelers may not care much about the shortest route to their destination, they detest being stuck at an airport for hours, waiting due to delays. Delays make passengers miss their connecting flights. Some passengers have missed important events like weddings, funerals, and holiday celebrations.
Delays happen, and customers know it. However, most passengers find the lack of communication and transparency more frustrating than the delay. Communicating the reasons for a delay in time helps reduce passenger frustration.
Openness is key when communicating. Blaming the weather when customers can see on their phones that the weather is not the culprit only exasperates their frustrations. Even a pilot informing passengers directly why take-off is delayed instead of over an intercom demonstrates concern.
Baggage mishandling (lost, delayed, damaged luggage) is another mishap passengers associate with poor airline services. Although airlines are responsible for repairing or compensating for damaged, delayed, or lost luggage, it doesn’t make the experience less unpleasant.
Losing one's valuables can be frustrating. It’s even worse when airlines fail to give the matter the attention it deserves, like delaying declaring a missing bag lost and compensating the owner. Communication is key to whichever action is deemed necessary following a mishandled bag. It makes the aggrieved passenger feel heard.
The uptake of self-tracking solutions, like Apple’s Air Tags, underscores the importance passengers attach to their luggage. Airlines have responded by empowering passengers to track their luggage in real time. Data sharing between airlines, ground crew, and airports, coupled with efficient sorting, promises to reduce incidences of baggage mishandling.
The airline industry is one of the most customer-centric sectors. Several factors along the customer journey (researching, booking, boarding, flying) determine how customers feel about an airline. Although mishaps happen, good customer service can sometimes even compensate for those other inconveniences.
