12/02/12, 12:42:04 EST

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Airlines buffeted by fliers' discontent

indystar.com

From flight delays to poor service from relentless cutbacks, carriers just can't win

Maybe all the hubbub about flight delays and shoddy service is beginning to register with the nation's big airlines.


After cutting costs in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Northwest Airlines Chief Executive Doug Steenland now says low operating costs are just "the opening ante" for air carriers to compete successfully. "Customer focus is going to define the winners in the years ahead," he says.

No. 1 American Airlines said recently it will pass up potential revenue by not selling in advance many of its middle seats during the peak Thanksgiving travel season. That allows American to accommodate more easily those travelers whose plans are disrupted by bad weather. And, in the past two years, most big U.S. carriers have created executive-level positions to address the problem of widespread customer dissatisfaction.
So good times for travelers are just around the corner? Don't bet on it, say skeptical travelers, industry insiders and customer-service experts. Their take is that the peculiarities of the airline business will forever leave the industry below average in satisfying travelers. It's not a business that's wired for pleasing customers in the way that, for example, retailer Nordstrom is.

The vagaries of weather are just part of it. Among other factors: a business culture where the costs of fuel and labor are viewed as more important than happy customers in determining profitability; recent cuts that may go too deep to ever deliver exceptional service; and customer attitudes that discount the value of good service from airlines even when they get it.

"It is unlikely that airlines will ever rank at the average, and certainly not above the average, in customer satisfaction because of some of the intrinsic factors . . . that will never change," says David Grizzle, a longtime executive at Continental Airlines.

Since December 2005, Grizzle has been senior vice president of customer experience.
University of Michigan research shows that airline passengers consistently have been among the least satisfied consumers in the United States for 13 years. Even the U.S. Postal Service, once the poster child for bad customer service, now swamps most airlines with a respectable 73 on the 100-point American Customer Satisfaction Index. The airlines scored an abysmal 63 in the annual ratings issued earlier this year.

The ratings included one airline industry bright spot: Discount giant Southwest scored 76, 1 percentage point above the average for all companies whose customers were surveyed.
The airline industry score is low enough, says Michigan business professor Claes Fornell, who created the index, that most carriers would be in danger of failing if their customers had travel options.

"The company that provides lousy service performance is normally punished by consumers, who will go elsewhere," says Fornell. "But airlines are different. In most cases, the consumers really don't have anywhere else to go."

Industry challenges

Even accounting for airlines' unique challenges as transport companies, a variety of factors limit their ability to produce service that inspires customer affection and loyalty.

Among them:

Deep cuts made to stay in business. Tony Polito, an associate professor of marketing and supply chain management at East Carolina University, says carriers have focused so much on cutting costs that they no longer seem to have the human or technical resources necessary to improve customer service.

"I'm not just talking about delays," he says. "The seating isn't comfortable. The food, if available, isn't good. Employees aren't happy, and that filters through to the customer."

The questionable link between happy customers and profits. Shannon Anderson, a management professor at Rice University whose research focuses on customer satisfaction, says airlines aren't convinced that money spent improving customer service will lead to bigger profits.

There's "little hard evidence" that spending more to improve customer service will have a significant positive impact on profits, she says.

Passengers' no-win allocation of credit and blame. Rice's Anderson says lots of factors figure into customer-satisfaction scores, but nothing drags scores down more than flight delays. She says passengers typically give the airlines little or no credit for arriving on time. That's a basic expectation. But when a plane is late, timeliness becomes a big deal, she says.

And heaven help the carrier that is perceived to have caused the delay, or even to have dealt poorly with a situation beyond its control.

"If I perceive that it's your fault, or that you didn't do all you could have done to help me . . . I'm far more likely to be angry, to file a complaint and to tell others about my bad experience," Anderson says.

Many in government seem unwilling to wait for the airlines to improve customer service. Congress, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration and even President Bush are pushing the airlines to act.

One proposal that seems to have strong support in Washington is forcing -- or at least jawboning -- the carriers to cut back their schedules, especially at peak times at the most congested airports. Their reasoning: Fewer flights equal reduced delays. Bush has given the DOT, FAA and airlines until the end of the year to come up with a plan.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 22, 2007