A Practical Guide to Airline Customer Service. Colin C. Law

tickets. These differences in prices are due to dissimilar ticket conditions. A customer paying a higher price gets more flexibility for their travel. These include enjoying the flexibility of date change, flight change and refund. On the other hand, customers who purchase discounted tickets are bounded by travel restrictions such as the lack of flexibility in terms of flight changes and refund.

      Figure 1-3: Basic customers’ expectations.

      Furthermore, today’s customers have higher expectations. Other than the basic requirements mentioned above, they have additional demands such as service, quality, action and appreciation.

      Customers constantly compare the airline service with the amount of money they have paid for their tickets. Generally, customers who have paid more demand a higher service needs compare to those who pay less.

      Customers also compare service providers and choose the company with a positive reputation in terms of service and product quality. The quality of an airline is determined by variety of activities and offers offered, which are used as a basis for customers to evaluate the airline company as a whole.

      In addition, customers expect airlines to take prompt actions when a situation arises and that they are be able to contact airline staff easily to have their problems resolved.

      Customers wanted their business to be appreciated. These appreciations often create and strengthen the relationship between the airline and the customers, leading to future businesses. This is vital in an industry where an airline’s quality and reputation can be easily spread by word of mouth.

      Figure 1-4: Additional customers’ expectations.

      Each customer creates their own expectations of an airline’s service. The minimum expectations that all customers have are concerns pertaining to safety and on-time departure and arrival. However, the level of expectations may not always be the same for all customers as this is a variable that is directly affected by how much they have paid for their flight ticket. Their satisfaction is directly influenced by whether the money they have spent is worth it.

Naomi Karten, a highly experienced speaker and seminar leader, has suggested the below formula to calculate customers’ level of satisfaction.2

      If customers’ level of satisfaction is one, the airline is fulfilling customers’ expectation. When the customers’ satisfaction is more than one, it means that airlines’ performance is exceeding the customers’ expectation, and vice versa.

      For example, on a flight from Asia to Europe, a customer who has paid several thousand US dollars on a ticket often has much higher expectations than another who has spent several hundred US dollars. As such, airlines offer different level of services such as first class, business class and economy class to fulfill their expectations. Airlines also arrange for special check-in counters for customers who have paid a higher fare and amenities such as lounge access and welcome drinks while boarding are offered to ensure these customers’ comforts are met. Once an airline’s performance exceeds customers’ expectations, satisfaction is created. However, if the same airline fails to deliver as expected, the feeling of dissatisfaction is generated.

      Flight from Singapore to London

Expectation		Airline performance		Airline performance
Customer A—Premium fare
Flight departs on time at 0900		The flight departed at 0856		Flight departs at 0940
10 minutes wait to check in		6 minutes wait to check in		15 minutes wait to check in
Board ahead of another customers		Priority boarding offered		15 minutes wait for boarding
Disembark first		Disembark first		10 minutes wait to disembark
10 minutes wait to retrieve baggage		8 minutes wait for baggage		20 minutes wait for baggage
		Exceeds expectations = Satisfaction		Did not meet expectations = Dissatisfaction
Customer B—Low fare
Flight departs on time at 0900		The flight departed at 0856		Flight departs at 0940
30 minutes wait to check in		16 minutes wait to check in		45 minutes wait to check in
30 minutes wait to retrieve baggage		28 minutes wait for baggage		35 minutes wait for baggage
		Exceeds expectations = Satisfaction		Did not meet expectations = Dissatisfaction

      Customers’ in-flight expectations are generally set by the industry. Today’s customers’ basic expectations of an airline are safety, comfortable chairs, delicious food, in-flight entertainment, and enthusiastic service agents. However, the industry’s expectations are changing rapidly. When one airline introduces a new product, other airlines follow quickly. This then becomes the new industry standard. To draw an example, when one airline offers in-flight Wi-Fi service and in-seat power ports, the airline booking soars. Other airlines soon start to follow and these eventually become the basic services provided in an aircraft. Customers’ expectations are also influenced by the type of services purchased. The cost of air tickets differs vastly among first-class cabin, business-class cabin, economy class cabin; and between full-service airlines and low-cost carriers.

Standardized cabin amenities

      First class is the most luxurious class that seeks to provide customers the most space and comfort on an aircraft. This premium service comes with a price and the cost of first-class tickets is usually the most expensive. Due to the cost of the ticket, customers who travel by first class have very high expectations in terms of the airline’s