Airline Competition
A few years ago I attended a conference as a guest of an Indian IT outsourcing company. Some of their other invited customers were managers from the airline industry. I remember listening to these people talk about their competitiveness and their innovation. A question immediately popped up into my mind, which I did not ask, unfortunately. "To me innovation is about offering new products and new services. Distinguishing yourself by adding more value, often for the same price. How is it that cutting services and/or starting to charge extra fees from them can be considered innovative?"
Over the last years the airlines have started charging for booze, food, seat selections, head phones, blankets, pillows. I remembering reading that Ryanair was considering charging for the use of toilets (see link). Now I am reading that Air Canada is going to introduce a charge to people requesting the bulkhead or exit rows as they have extra leg room. Pity those mums travelling with kids who now need to pay a minimum of $14 per one-way flight per seat for this. I love the headline of Air Canada's press release - "Air Canada offers customers the best seats in the house". Hmmmm....I think that emergency rows are wider due to regulation...not because of some marketing guru at an airline thinking they are a good, innovative, idea. Will you charge the poor soul who sits in the row in front of the emergency exit row (you know the one that does not allow you to lean back at all....) fourteen bucks less??
Why not be truly innovative and find other ways to cut your costs so that you can continue to offer the services and, heck, even add services. If you can't provide the services for the price then up the price of the service. The tactic the airlines are using may fill seats (often because there is no choice on a route) but it is slowly diminishing the reputation of airlines and causing the vast majority of travellers to hate flying. You may be filling planes by dropping prices and by cutting services but you are not making money. Don't ask for subsidies with one hand while you drive yourself into red due to insufficient revenue, lack of innovation and terrible customer service.
I think I have said this before. Charge and extra $100 on every flight and throw in the freaking blanket, pillow, the seat selection and let the mum ask for the bulkhead. Most of us don't want your useless pillows anyway and you'll make more money off all of us, maybe turn a profit and start hiring the best minds to come up with a truly innovative service.
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