A Practical Guide to Airline Customer Service. Colin C. Law
waiting time.
Airline lounge service is only available to high-yield customers.The design and the facilities in the lounge will affect customers’ level of comfort while waiting for boarding. Customers who spend their time in the lounge prefer a spacious and private environment for rest or to work.
The boarding process used by the airlines impacts customers’ level of satisfaction.The boarding procedures adopted by airlines include boarding by rows, by zone or by random. Using different strategies has both positive impact and negative impact on passengers’ waiting time at the boarding gate.
The color theme of the aircraft cabin and the background music is instrumental in creating a memorable travel experience for customers.A clean and modern-looking aircraft also helps in raising customers’ level of satisfaction.
Cabin Identify of Thai Airways International
In 2014, Thai Airways rebranded their aircraft and incorporated elements of the Thai culture in their new business class and economy class cabins. Thai teak wood, silk foil, rattan and Thai artwork were used in the cabins to reflect Thai culture and traditions so as to create a strong motif and brand identity.5
Figure 1-8: Airline’s service environment.
The service environment is also dependent on employees’ moods and the quality of the service they provide is often affected by the conditions of the working environment. Therefore, a clean, safe and well-designed environment can have an indirect impact on customers’ level of satisfaction and impression of an airline.
According to Mary Bitner (1992), the service environment consists of multiple factors that affect customers’ satisfaction. These include ambience, use of spatial space, functional congruence, signs and attires.6
Ambience
The ambience refers to the physical environment conditions. This includes all elements related to temperature, humidity, air quality, smells, sounds and light that influence customers’ perceptions. While the ambience at the airport’s check-in lobby is controlled by the airport authority, the airport lounge environment and the cabin environment can be adjusted based on individual airlines’ preferences and needs. The cabin’s temperature, pressure and humidity and lighting are also adjusted according to the time of the day to make the customers feel more comfortable.
Space
All customers prefer to have more privacy and space. The layout design of the check-in lobby, furnishing arrangement in the airline lounge and aircraft cabin setup also affect customers’ level of satisfaction. A waiting area that is spacious and well-designed conveys a sense of openness and vice versa for one that is cramped and littered. An aircraft with too many seats may be unattractive to the customers as even though the airlines may be earning additional profit from the sale of these seats, the amount of space offered to the customers is compromised.
Functional congruence
Functional congruence refers to how well something with a functional purpose fits into the environment in which it serves that purpose. In the instance of an airline, this includes the functioning of the equipment used, the locations where check-in service is provided, availably of check-in kiosks at the airport and the distance from the airline lounge to the boarding gate. These come together to form the entire service experience.
Signs
Clear display signs are extremely important in an airport. While these are already put in place by airports, some airlines do provide their own signs to further assist and direct passengers to the correct boarding gate. In the aircraft, signs are installed to inform passengers when to fasten their seat belts and when they are permitted to use their electronics during the flight.
Attire
As ambassadors and representatives of the airline, it is essential for employees to be well-dressed and well-groomed. Some airlines also implement dress codes for passengers who are accessing the airline lounge as well as boarding of an aircraft. For example, Qantas has enforced the smart casual dress code for customers who wish to access the lounge.7 American Airlines forbids customers who are dressed inappropriately or barefooted from boarding the aircraft.8
Airlines set strict dress code policy for staff who travel on their aircraft. Staff who travel on the company’s travel benefits are considered the representatives of the airline and they are required to dress appropriately. In March 2017, an airline was slammed in social media for refusing two female staff passengers wearing leggings to board the aircraft. They were asked to change their outfit before they were allowed on-board.
Service delivery system
An airline must deploy adequate service personnel to reduce waiting time. For example, the average check-in time for Airline A is 3 minutes. If it allocates 10 check-in counters to check in 500 customers, the total time required is 150 minutes. On the other hand, if it decides to open up 5 more check-in counters, the total required time is reduced to 100 minutes. However, the downside to this is increased airline operating cost. Similarity the number of cabin crew deployed on an aircraft affects customers’ level of satisfaction. Another factor that determines services is the quality of the actual service delivered.
Intangible customer service
Intangible customer service mostly refers to the ability of service agents.
Service skills
Service skills refer to the ways employees interact with customers. These include communication skills, ability to maximise resources and think out of the box, and problem-solving skills. Today’s customers expect service agents to understand their needs and resolve issues in a timely manner.
Product knowledge
In order to provide excellent service, airline employees must have adequate product knowledge related to their duties and the surrounding environment so as to cater to the needs of passengers. These include basic knowledge such as operation of in-flight entertainment system and duty-free limit allowance of alcoholic drinks allowed to be taken into a country.
Service attitudes
Helpfulness and friendliness are the basic requirements of a service provider. A positive mindset also helps to create a cheerful environment which indirectly helps to enhance customers’ level of satisfaction. Service attitudes can sometime turn an unpleasant situation into an opportunity for creating loyal customers.
Who are the customers?
Customers are individuals or organizations who have engaged an airline’s services. An airline customer can be from any group, gender, nationality or culture. In addition, airline customers can be divided into three types: internal customer, intermediate customer and external customer. It is important to establish relationships with both internal and external customers as the former handles all the various aspects that come together to create a smooth flight experience, and the latter provides the revenue that keeps an airline operating.
Internal customers
Internal customers comprise the following groups of people that airline employees work with in order to operate smoothly: vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers. In the instance of frontline service agents, they need the support of their internal customers—various supporting service agents to provide effective customer services to customers. These supporting service agents include catering service agents, maintenance personnel, baggage handlers and ramp agents. The airline also relies heavily on these suppliers who provide services for cleaning and catering to maintain the cleanliness of the aircraft and