FOCUS ON AIRLINE TRENDS
Clockwise from left, dinner served aboard Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines’ training centre and the British Airways’ enhanced service iPad2
up to a constant standard as they work in different type of aircraft galleys across its fleet. Air New Zealand, meanwhile, employs 40
dedicated airline concierges on its long-haul flights from Auckland to London, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Vancouver. The concierges are on hand at the departure gate prior to boarding, during the flight, and upon arrival, and provide passengers in all cabins with advice on local accomodation, transport, restaurants, shopping and other activities. They also get in contact with ANZ frequent flyers in advance of the flight to introduce themselves and help with any special requests or possible schedule disruptions. On ANZ’s new B777s, passengers can also use the IFE system to text questions to the inflight concierge, and specify a time when they would like the concierge to visit them at their seat so as not to interrupt their movie watching or sleep time. ANZ says the inflight concierges complement the number of flight attendants, although they assist with meal and refreshment services where possible.
Personal service Despite airlines being pioneers in the customer-loyalty field with their frequent-flyer programmes, personalisation is still in an early stage in the airline industry. Although many airlines encourage frequent flyers to store some of their travel preferences in their loyalty accounts, this information often isn’t used effectively to offer customers a more personal level of service onboard. Emirates is one of the exceptions, and back
in 2007 rolled out Lenovo ThinkPad tablet pc’s that access a customer relationship management application for real-time information on passengers’ preferred drinks or meal choices, favourite newspaper or other known special interests. Cabin crew also use the ‘Knowledge-based Inflight Service’ system to learn about the number of frequent flyers on board, their status and real-time miles balance (for a last-minute onboard upgrade), recent flights taken and class travelled in, onward or upcoming flights, and possible service issues.
“More recently, British Airways has armed 1,800 senior cabin crew with an iPad 2”
More recently, British Airways has armed
1,800 senior cabin crew with an iPad 2 to enable them to have prior awareness of customer preferences so they can offer a more personalised service. The iPads run an application called ‘Enhanced Service Platform’ that lets BA crew identify where each customer is seated, their frequent flyer status, any special meal requests, as well as any service issues logged by ground-based colleagues around the network prior to departure, so solutions can be delivered while the flight is airborne. On a similar note, KLM has provided a group
of 50 senior pursers with iPads on board as part of a six-month trial project that started in October 2011. KLM feels it is essential that cabin crew have easy access to the latest
customer information onboard, as personal contact with passengers on the ground is becoming rarer due to the increased rollout of self-service facilities.
Raymond Kollau is the founder of market research agency
airlinetrends.com. Having been part of the leading consumer trend firm
trendwatching.com since its inception, Raymond founded
airlinetrends.com to focus on trends and innovations in the global airline industry. He has been quoted as an industry expert in a range of media as diverse as CNN, MSNBC, and The New York Times and is also known for his high-level and colourful presentations.
www.airlinetrends.com
www.onboardhospitality.com 29
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