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

Intermediate customers

      Passengers sometimes transfer between airlines, especially for long-distance travels and airlines need to work together to ensure a hassle-free experience. Hence, airlines need to consider the needs of their intermediate customers—other airlines. Teamwork is important in the airline industry as service agents need to coordinate with their co-workers to provide services to passengers.

      Travel agencies and freight forwarders are also an airline’s intermediate customers as these companies help the airline to sell its product to external customers. As such, it is vital to develop a good relationship with the providers of these services. This is even more so in today’s context where customers’ choice of airlines are directly influenced by travel agents and freight forwarders’ recommendations. Offering excellent services and being attentive to these intermediate customers helps build good working relationships and increase sales.

External customers

      These refer to the millions of customers who travel by air every day. While these customers expect to be well taken care of during their journey, there are some customers who require more help than others. It is important for airline service agents to identify these different types of customers, their characteristics and needs.

      External customers may be divided into the following main categories:

       Business travelers

       Leisure travelers

       Cargo customers

      Business travelers

      These are customers who travel for work. These customers often travel many times in a year and are very familiar with the air travel process.

      Characteristics:

       Dressed in formal attire

       Expect a hassle-free experience

      Leisure travelers

      These customers usually travel for leisure and in groups. They do not travel often and may sometimes require additional assistance.

      Characteristics:

       Dressed casually

       Expect a fun and exciting experience

      Figure 1-9: Airline customers.

      Cargo customers

      Cargo customers engage an airline for freight delivery services and usually contact the airline directly. They are just as important as business and leisure customers as they make up a significant percentage of an airline’s sales.

Customer service in the airline industry

      During the air travel process, airline employees from various departments have direct and indirect interactions with customers. The air travel process begins with customers making their ticket reservations. This is followed by check-ins at the airport, boarding of aircrafts, the en-route experience, arrival at their destinations and finally, baggage retrieval. There are airline employees at every step of the way who provide services and assistance to customers in distinct ways.

      For example, reservation service agents must have superb listening skills as they need to pay attention to customers’ requests. Both airport service agents and cabin crews require a different skill set as they deal with customers face-to-face. On the other hand, lost and found agents need to demonstrate strong problem resolution skills as the majority of customers who they are in contact with have issues with their baggage.

      Passengers

      Customer care (reservation and ticketing)

      The customer care department, also known as ‘reservation unit’ is where customers contact an airline to purchase flight tickets. Traditionally, flight reservations are made by phone and reservation service agents assist customers to reserve their seats. Today, the majority of air tickets are sold through the Internet. However, when customers need to make changes to their travel plans, the quickest way is to contact the airline reservation centre directly. Hence, the reservation department also serves as a hotline which customers can contact the airline directly when they have any queries.

      Customer care includes the following functions:

       Make reservations

       Ticketing arrangements

       Frequent flier points redemption

       Inquiry hotline

      At the airport

      Many airlines have reservation service agents stationed at the airport to assist customers with reservation and ticketing inquiries. They also take care of ad-hoc requests such as rebooking of flights.

      Airport reservation and ticketing includes the following functions:

       Make reservations

       Ticketing arrangements

       Frequent flier points redemption

      Check-in counter

      On the day of departure, customers go to the check-in counters of the respective airlines to check in for their flights. Airline ground service agents then check their travel documents before issuing them a boarding pass. Customers can also choose to deposit their travel baggage at the check-in counter.

      Check-in service includes the following functions:

       Registering customers for the flights

       Travel document checks

       Issuance of boarding pass

       Baggage check-in

      Boarding gate

      After going through the airport security and immigration (on international flight only), customers will then proceed to the boarding gate and wait to embark on the aircraft. During the boarding process, airline ground agents will need to verify customers’ travel documents. They may sometimes collect a portion of their boarding pass for cross-checking of passenger headcounts.

      Boarding service includes the following functions:

       Assist customers on embarking the aircraft

       Travel document checks

      In-flight

      While en-route a flight, cabin crews are stationed to ensure the safety and comfort of customers. The cabin crew demonstrates the usage of emergency equipment and offer amenities to customers during the flight.

      In-flight service includes the following functions:

       Ensure safety of passengers

       Offer in-flight amenities and ensure customers are comfortable during the flight

      Arrival

      Upon arrival, customers will disembark the aircraft and airline ground agents are available to offer assistance to both arrival and transiting customers.

      Arrival service includes the following functions:

       Assist customers upon disembarkation

       Offer directions to all customers

      Baggage retrieval

      After clearing immigration, customers can then retrieve their baggage from the baggage hall. Lost and found agents are stationed in the baggage hall to offer assistance to those whose baggage either did not arrive or were damaged during the flight.

      Baggage service includes the following functions:

       Track delayed or lost baggage

       Make arrangements for return baggage

       Make