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| Photo credit: Sergey Svechnikov via Unsplash |
In
early December of 2017, a winter storm descended over northern
Europe. Straight in its path, lay Brussels Airport. Left behind in
its vicious wake were centimeters of slushy snow and hundreds of
canceled flights.
How
do I know this? I was one of the tens of thousands of
passengers who had their trip canceled. After spending a long,
joyful weekend with friends and family in Belgium, my wife and I were
set to return home to (a much sunnier) Barcelona on Monday evening.
Yet, the weather had other plans. No sooner did we finish our lunch
than we received notification from Brussels Airlines that they were
canceling our 6:30 p.m flight back to Spain.
I'm no
stranger to canceled flights. Just last summer, I raced a fierce
storm front across Wyoming and northern Colorado, beat it to the
airport, only to have my flight out of Denver subsequently grounded
due to multiple tornadoes (which, to be fair, was probably for the
best).
In this
case, I was able to rebook on the spot via a link provided by the
airline and a subsequent callback from an agent confirming my new
itinerary. After a quick night in a hotel, I got back home the next
day. That said, this all took place in the U.S. - a country renowned
for its client-first mentality - and I was flying with low-cost
innovator Southwest airlines. By contrast, my most recent experience
took place in Europe - a region where competition among commercial
carriers is fierce, and customer service often gets lost in
translation.
To make
matters worse, the commercial aviation scene on the continent is in
the midst of unprecedented disruption. Over the last half-decade,
many factors combined to create an ultra-competitive environment for
airlines. Oil prices
have been relatively stable, sitting around 55.00 USD
a barrel.
With
plenty of supply on the market, this
trend seems likely to continue. Likewise, cheap
credit and an open market are driving both mergers and acquisitions -
see Lufthansa Group consolidating their portfolio - and the expansion
of new and existing brands such as IAG’s
Level or Norwegian’s
rapid growth.
Perhaps
most importantly, though, are the state-of-the-art aircraft from both
Boeing Co. and Airbus which, thanks to their composite material
design, make operating an aircraft cheaper than ever before.
This
so-called perfect storm is a boon for consumers with airfares at
historic lows and capacities never before seen on the market. As a
result, people are traveling more than ever, in a way validating the
strategies of airlines across the continent. Carriers are quick to
react to say how they're using this situation to engage travelers
better and use tech to improve operations such as aircraft
maintenance or through digital marketing techniques.
However,
there's an underlying problem. Despite all of the rhetoric about
how these factors improve the overall experience for travelers, the
fact is that they still haven't found a way to help their clients
when it counts: managing mass delays and cancellations.
Indeed,
when our 6:30 p.m. flight got canceled around 2 p.m, despite our best
efforts, we were unable to get through to anyone at the Airline until
24 hours later. As it would turn out, the airport, along with many
other ones in the region went in an almost full shutdown, grounding
entire airlines in the process.
It was
only logical that customer support staff became overwhelmed with
phone calls and requests since not only were they fielding direct
bookings from clients, but also had to deal with the travel agents of
other passengers.
However,
thanks to misdirected tech investments, an already bad situation
became made much worse. The affected passengers had to rely solely
on getting through to an agent to make their booking. For those
stranded at an airport, this meant queuing for hours with no
guarantee of resolution.
Of
course, this uncertainty meant that booking a hotel or other
accommodation represented a risk, further adding to passenger stress.
Combined, the result was clear: passenger
frustration from a less-than-optimal situation inflicted considerable
damage to the airline’s brand. And in an
environment where a 5.00 EUR fare difference is a driving factor for
booking a flight, airlines cannot afford to let lousy brand
reputation push consumers to competitors.
Fortunately
for both airlines and travelers, the fix is easier than it seems.
First, European carriers must take note of how their American and
Asian counterparts manage delays or cancelations and focus their tech
investments with the passenger's needs first. To do so, they need to
look at the entire passenger experience from when things go wrong,
not right. Ideally,
they should ask themselves: "without knowing how my airline
works, how would I react in this situation and what would I need
right now to fix it?"
Their answer should lead them to embrace technology that allows their
direct customers - i.e., travelers who reserved directly with the
airline via website or telephone - to rebook their travel themselves.
In practice, doing so could very well mean building an option in the
"manage my booking" section of their website that shows the
stranded passenger all the choices they have to complete their travel
within the allotted time frame.
The
benefits are twofold. First, the passenger can directly manage their
booking with the rules of travel already defined in the web portal.
They more than likely know where they want to go and instead of
getting frustrated and cursing the brand while on endless hold
waiting for an agent, he or she can quickly adjust their itinerary
(largely) stress-free.
Second,
agents at the airline will be free to handle more special cases - be
it passengers with particular needs - or assist travel agents in
rebooking flights. Since they won't have to deal with angry clients
who will barely hesitate to take it out on the first person from the
airline they meet, morale during a crisis will remain high, leading
to better service and quicker resolution times for the pending
backlog.
Additionally,
European airlines should better-anticipate weather delays. Before
forecasted storms hit, they should contact all passengers traveling
for leisure to inform them of potential perturbations and give them
the information needed to rebook their travel should it become
necessary.
Put
together, these tools would transform delay and cancellation
management for European airlines, helping protect the brand in the
process. Further, as the market is exceptionally competitive with
LCCs taking business from legacy carriers - forcing the latter to
water down their hard product - it only makes that the established
airlines develop innovative tools that leave passengers with a
positive experience, helping to increase repeat travel.
The
European commercial aviation market is in a unique position. Thanks
to a ‘perfect storm' of low-interest rates, steady oil prices, and
extremely fuel-efficient aircraft, airlines are free to focus on
adding routes, competing more agilely, and building out their tech.
That said, customer experience when the brand is on the line - such
as mass delays and cancellations - should be the primary focus of all
carriers on the continent: there's simply no reason not to do so
already.
Our
experience, while eye-opening, turned into a pleasant, if unexpected
extended stay. We were able to visit with friends that we didn't
think we'd have a chance to see, and, after spending 14 years living
in Brussels, we reveled in the nostalgia that came with strolling
down familiar, snow-covered streets. We returned to Barcelona two days later on Wednesday evening and, even then, it was via Zurich and on Lufthansa-owned Swiss, who coincidentally also owns Brussels Airlines — not that this is necessarily a bad thing.
I can
never say when I'll have my next delay or cancellation. My only hope
is that when it happens, the airline that I'm flying on will make
sure that I'm armed with the tools I need to get home; because that's
the type of service that turns me into a loyal customer.
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