Fly the Kid Friendly Skies

When we went to Aruba last month, we booked our tix at the last minute. As such, we couldn't select our seats. At every gate, we (along with countless other families) had to beg the airport personnel to be seated with our respective kids. With our family, we didn't all have to be together, but we felt that each kid should preferably have one adult next to him -- especially Son #2 who puked upon landing in FL last February. Not exactly fair game for a random stranger to have to deal with that mess; as his mother, it even grossed me out.

My mom and I were musing that, instead of having passengers pre-select their seats and forcing others to angle for better positioning, airlines could reduce the stress for both passengers and personnel alike by simply applying a seating algorithm based on a) individual preferences coupled with b) companion requirements (e.g., passengers that require assistance and/or parental oversight). By optimizing the variables that are fed into the computer, favorable seating can be assigned at the gate with negligable distress. Isn't that the benefit of simple technology? So why not employ it?

Instead, as my girlfriend Left Coast Mom shared on her Facebook page, British Airways has just instituted a "fly next to your children" fee. I love the opening line here:

"British Airways has broken new exciting new ground in the race to make flying as awful as possible: they have announced a fee (ranging from £10-60 per passenger) for advance seat selection, explaining that this will be the only way that families and other groups travelling together can be assured that they'll be sitting next to each other. I wonder what happens if you don't pay it while flying with a two-year-old in her own seat; do they seat her at the other end of the plane from you and explain to the strangers on either side of her that they're responsible for her well-being for the duration?" (Source: Cory Doctorow for BoingBoing.net)

Our sentiments exactly. Except that it's BA who I was otherwise fond of.

Why, when airlines continue to post losses, are they determined to make flying more difficult for passengers? Blockbuster learned the hard way that imposing fee after fee after fee doesn't increase customer satisfaction -- it just erodes the base of loyal customers so that better products and services, when introduced, face little resistance when attempting to lure customers to switch. Duh.

More on this less-than-favorable change here. There's gotta be a better way.

I Love British Airways . . . Still

I spend a great portion of my days lately writing business plans for companies from fledgling start-ups to new divisions of major companies. And, in so doing, I think a lot about brand positioning and differentiation. Why chose this company and not its competitors? I take on the role of the decision makers, influencers and end users across the various markets and ask myself, “What’s in it for me?” Sometimes the answer is fairly simple; other times, it takes sustained concentration and I still have difficulty.

I also think a lot about brand loyalty. After someone becomes a customer, what would encourage them to buy repeatedly? Or, more importantly, never buy again from their competitors? Or, best case, tell their friends about the brand? In my life, there are few brands I’m loyal to. I pretty consistently eat Lean Cuisine for lunch but not always. I get bored. I love my Jetta so much that we bought a Passat wagon a few years ago. But, until Chrysler hired my militant friend, Bob Nardelli, I was considering looking at the Jeep Liberty next. No deal now. And, let’s face it, although I buy them a lot, I’m rarely talking about Tampax at dinner parties. Well, at least not until the plates have been cleared.

We have one client who targets their customers’ children with fun, educational events to get them involved in their company at a young age so that when later in life these kids are successful, they will hopefully equate a portion of their achievement to this brand, utilize its services and tell their other accomplished friends to do the same. The jury is out for another 10–20 years regarding the ultimate success of this program; however, it does promote goodwill with the parents today.

This got me thinking about one of the most fun, brand experiences I had as a child. I was given a hardcover flight-log from BOAC (now British Airways) on my first trip to London. From that flight on, for years until it became embarrassing, I had all of the pilots on my flights sign their autographs and log how many miles I had flown on the given day/route. I loved it. I was often asked if I wanted to go up into the cockpit and meet the pilots but was usually too shy to do so. However, with this book came two other things: 1) a bronze pin of a plane that I cherished and 2) the promise of an interview with the company when I was old enough to become a flight attendant (a.k.a. hostess, stewardess). And, yes, the thought of becoming a flight attendant was pretty darned exciting to me back then.

Although I never took them up on it, I did think about my childhood experience when I flew British Airways last summer. The individual responsible for that campaign circa 1974 was, I’m guessing, long gone from the company. I wondered: if I asked, would BA honor my request for an interview? Probably (although I’m sure they would have gotten a bigger laugh out of it). But, in reality, did it entice me to fly BA 30+ years later? No, my frequent flyer miles did. It did, however, predispose me to think positive thoughts about the airline which, in this day and age, is a difficult feat.

So my hats off to British Airways for creating a sustainable brand experience for one little girl to share with her clients 30+ years later.