Spirit Airlines announced they are now going to charge travelers not only for checked bags…but carry on, as well!
(Admittedly, not as bad as Europe’s no-frills airline Ryanair’s boss Michael O’Leary contemplating charging customers to use its aircrafts’ toilets.)
So…what’s next?
Airlines need to remember there are three levels at which any professional or organizations interacts with their customers.
Level One: Processing — the basic elements of the transaction. These are the fundamental aspects we simply have a right to expect as customers spending our money with you.
Level Two: Service — the activities organizations and individual professionals undertake to make Processing more efficient, palatable, and enjoyable to the customer.
Level Three: Experience — making deeper connections with customers that are perceived to be highly personal and emotionally engaging.
Here’s the fundamental problem for the airlines — they are now attempting to charge us EXTRA for something we customers believe to be a Level One activity — something we EXPECT.
I can rationalize that baggage crews have to be hired and the vacationer with huge trunks should have to pay more than me with my little carry-on. But, to charge me for the “privilege” of schlepping my own stuff on the plane is an expense I find to be asinine.
Consider this from CNN: “‘Although major American carriers are unlikely to charge for admission to the restroom, airlines will continue to push the fee envelope,’ said Michael Boyd of Boyd Group International, a Colorado-based aviation consulting firm.
Just because he can’t think of many more possible fees doesn’t mean the airlines won’t come up with something, he said.
“‘They’re very creative. They’re like squirrels. They’ll get to the bird feeder somehow,’ Boyd said.”
The article also points out that airline consultant Robert Mann of R.W. Mann & Co. predicts air passengers will be charged on the cargo model someday. “We’re eventually going to come down to essentially charging by weight and volume, which is the way cargo airlines charge. The only guys that are consistently profitable flying things around are FedEx and UPS,” Mann states.
Price travel by the pound? “Step right up to the scales, ma’am, we’ll get your weight and charge your Visa.” Yeah…like that would work.
Let’s see — what if we had an airline that didn’t charge a bunch of extra fees, told you upfront what you were going to pay for a ticket, had planes that are clean and operate pretty much on-time, and flight attendants who actually act as if they enjoy working for their employer and taking care of you?
Oh, wait. We already do.
It’s called Southwest — and, unlike their competition, they are profitable.
(Yeah, I know. We’re all tired of Southwest stories. However, when stuff like this happens, it just makes you appreciate what a terrific organization they are all over again.)
It is NOT nuclear science — worry at least as much about your customer as your product. The airlines think more about moving planes than people…which is why the people flying them are so fundamentally disengaged.
YOU and YOUR business can fall into the same trap. I don’t care how often AT&T shows me that damn orange map if MY calls keep dropping. I don’t care how much you say “Absoutely, positively overnight” if MY package is late.
I don’t care what you sell, or how big (or small) your company is…ALL business is PERSONAL…and customers crave a connection with you.
All the airlines are doing is pushing us farther and further away.
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