NB: This is a guest post by Raphael Bejar, chief executive of Airsavings.
For an industry accustomed to terms like “headwinds”, “drag” and “holding patterns”, you’d think innovation sluggishness or “innovation inertia” would be a systems malfunction both low cost and legacy carriers would happily avoid.
Besides, even without the help of stubborn fog banks, nasty winds or de-icing emergencies, the airline industry is rife with entirely human-caused backups, snags and delays.
If there was one area where airlines could claim unequivocal victory it should be in the realm of technology’s latest – and therefore, products and services that constitute the ultimate passenger experience. Right?
Wrong.
Conservative branding and antiquated ancillaries:
Innovation inertia speaks to the lack of insight, foresight and imagination that weighs too heavily on the air travel industry, especially in North America.
There, carriers have been criticized for their notoriously conservative branding and others remain fixated on antiquated ancillary revenue offerings like baggage and beverage fees, or refuse to invest in new technology offerings.
Innovation inertia is particularly unsettling in an age of economic uncertainty, ever rising fuel costs, (with cruise oil trading at $92.07, up 10.76% in the last year) and cut-throat low cost carrier competition (that in some cases are being innovative), bucking the inertia trend.
So how can airlines turn inertia into action?
The answer: Google it. And I don’t mean typing in the question and waiting for millions of responses, like some sort of digital oracle.
Google as a role model:
No. Airlines should literally be modelling their innovation endeavours off the search engine and mobile platform giant. That includes an attention to detail concerning what works and what doesn’t work.
Earlier this year, it was reported that Google was getting rid of several services it deems redundant, like Google Video For Business, a video hosting and sharing feature.
It also means that if there’s a trend out there, something new, something popular, that airlines should emulate as much as possible (without trademark infringement) while adding their own unique touch.
This frenetic, start-up-like pace is exactly the mentality air carriers need to embrace if they want to beat back innovation inertia. Like Google, airlines and their passengers have become increasingly tech-savvy.
Some 75% of business travelers own a smartphone, a statistic sharply higher than most other smartphone demographics. Both the latest in lightweight IFE and out-of-the-box ideas like Singapore Airlines budget carrier Scoot offering $17 rented iPads, are ideal ways to improve the passenger travel experience, while at the same time, boost and re-imagine vital ancillary revenue options – options that provide value rather than nickel and dime.
Think beyond inflight:
But in-cabin is just one component. Throughout the booking path, a host of tech-centric ancillary revenue solutions are already being adopted by the most innovative airlines aware that, like on-time departures, product launch expediency is critical.
Options such as personal travel concierges, gadget travel insurance, or even Airsaving’s own Let Me Think social media offering , all of which can be linked to personal mobile devices via wifi are proving the way forward – even if innovative headwinds remain.
What’s more it’s also been found that unbundled ticket prices are more malleable than once thought. If services like the ones mentioned above can be well marketed and passengers have a clear understanding of what their money is going toward, travelers will pay higher fares to supplement their journey’s in ways that matter to them – even beyond additional ancillary fees.
Mother Nature has a funny way of fiddling with airlines’ plans. Headwinds can turn a four-hour flight into six.
But, for an industry that once held the monopoly on technology and what defined “jet set” cool, reversing innovation inertia should be a mission that legacy and low cost carriers readily accept before their next takeoff.
NB: This is a guest post by Raphael Bejar, chief executive of Airsavings.
NB2: Image of plane taking off via Shutterstock
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Great article, I couldn’t agree more. My impression, as a relative outsider, is that airlines’ risk-aversion is born out of a very sensible culture of engineering and safety. Keeping planes in the air as well as airlines do requires a culture of conservative decision-making, precision, and multiple redundancy. I’m certainly happy that airlines behave so cautiously when it comes to actually flying me through the air, but problems arise when that risk-aversion prevents almost-risk-free innovation from seeing the light of day and improving everyone’s experience and bottom line.
Thank you Tyler, for your comment. As you noted it, we can be grateful that our industry has reached a level of safety and security never reached before. This is the main driver of this industry, and we are all, proud for it. In terms of marketing innovation, our industry is still very, very far behind. When, more than 50% of airline’s clients are booking online, airlines should do more in terms of “test/correct/remove if not successful” new services or products. Bring more value to the clients. And they will pay for it. This is what my post is about. Airlines do not think like “e-retailers”, yet.
well put Raphael!
the problem as i see it, is that unfortunately many airlines wed themselves to reservation systems that are hosted and part of a community model.
This means any innovation takes forever to get into upcoming releases and often the functionality is watered down to keep the community happy, rather innovation thirsty customers.
As opposed to using web-services to take control of their eCommerce future, especially in the booking path, which i think would give airlines a much greater scope to try things out and see if they work e.g. innovative. Like you have rightly point out Google as a prime example.
Well, Steve, this is another important aspect you are pointing out ! Airlines marketers are still too much dependent from their own IT departments and reservation systems manufacturers. Reservations systems manufacturers are just “forgetting” that the airline’s “passengers” are the “airline”s CLIENTS.
This is one of the reasons why, our latest version of our technology is completely booking engine agnostic. So, that an airline’s marketer doesn’t’ have to wonder if it is “possible or not” to include such a service in their booking flow.
Airline innovation seems like, as the saying goes, putting lipstick on a pig. What’s more, the role model should be Apple Retail where attention is paid to everything online and in the store — it’s an experience with no barriers and lots of nice touches.
Shopping for and buying an airline ticket is among the most painful purchases in existence given lack of consistency in pricing (load, class, time, add-ons) and the purchase process across many outlets. What’s more, you can’t return it and changing it has huge penalties for the customer. Of course the airline can cancel at will with impunity. People notice these little things and no amount of innovation is going to cancel it out.
Continuing down the experience or consumption curve are a series of hassels and annoyances well within the control of an airline; these are not TSA or weather related but shoot yourself in the foot types of things. Lack of information and announcements in the boarding area, the cattle car rush to board only to wait, and of course the “anything with an off switch needs to be turned off” except of course the iPads being used by the pilots in the cockpit around all that sensitive navigation equipment.
Of course the fun doesn’t end when trying to use the bathroom during food and beverage service, or finding lost luggage upon arrival. Even trying to redeem frequent flyer miles is an insane hassle. And the list goes on and on. Just ask Alex Baldwin.
IMHO, every airline would benefit greatly from polishing the experience and getting some of the basics correct more often than not.
Dear Larry,
This is exactly what we pointed out. There are many retailers and e-retailers which should be an “example to follow” for airlines. Buying a ticket “online” should be fun, attractive and a real SHOPPING experience. When you are going to buy a new Chevrolet at 10 000 USD (being this the advertised price) , no one is complaining when going out from the dealer shop with a Chevy at: 14 000 USD , because you took, this wonderful “deep passion red” color option, the MP3 player option, the leather seats, the chrome wheels and the coffee cup handler !! Airline industry has not “invented” the ancillary services….. But some other industries (such as automobile) are making it funnier to the client to increase the initial price they had in mind when entering into the dealer shop. This is exactly, what the airline industry should achieve. Have their clients happy to purchase an online ticket at 250 USD when they were thinking to spend only 125 USD !