James T. Kane, a corporate consultant on customer loyalty, has a news flash for his airline.
โI hate you, and I tell everybody I hate you,โ he says. โYou could not pay me to get on your airline if I didnโt have to. The reason you think Iโm a happy customer is I flew 178,000 miles on you last year โ but thatโs because I didnโt have a choice.โ Like many other frequent business travelers, he finds that there is only one airline whose flight schedule fits his needs.
โIโm not loyal,โ he adds. โIโm just a hostage.โ
Many frequent fliers share similar feelings about the airlines they, too, fly most often โ even when those customers have, as Mr. Kane does, high elite status in mileage programs that provide perks like the occasional free upgrade or priority boarding.
Mr. Kaneโs sentiments underscore a quandary for domestic airlines even as the industry compiled a second consecutive year of profitability in 2007, the first time that has happened since 1999-2000. Having cut services, reduced routes and crammed planes full, and having steadily eroded benefits associated with frequent-flier programs, airlines may have alienated their best customers.
And their chief brand-builders, those elite-status frequent flier programs, may merely reinforce a customerโs dislike of a company that he or she feels forced, not motivated, to use, Mr. Kane contends.
โWe donโt look on those perks as privileges,โ Mr. Kane said. โWe merely see them as entitlements. To get mine, I had to fly 178,000 miles last year. At the same time, every delay, every missed connection and overcrowded plane, every bad meal, every time somebody reclined a seat and rammed it into my knees โ it doesnโt matter if it was caused by circumstances beyond the airlineโs control or not, I blamed them for all of it.โ
Mr. Kaneโs specialty is helping corporations with customer-relations and marketing strategies. He is a senior consultant and partner at the Brookeside Group, and his clients include Universal Studios, NBC, Major League Baseball, Coors Brewing and the National Park Service.
Airlines often presume deep customer loyalty based on evidence not much stronger than, โI keep showing up,โ as Mr. Kane puts it. โThe game is, you keep accumulating points with them, but loyalty should come down to whether theyโre building up points with you,โ he said.
He cites American Express and Amazon as models of companies that know how to build trust and loyalty.
The airline industry notes that mileage programs, which have been around for 26 years, still dole out millions of free tickets a year. But they have steadily cut back benefits by piling on more blackout dates and higher mileage requirements.
โAirlines want to generate as much loyalty as they can, but do it as cheaply as possible,โ said Tim Winship, an editor at SmarterTravel.com and an author, with fellow mileage guru Randy Petersen, of โMileage Pro: The Insiderโs Guide to Frequent Flyer Programs.โ
โWe have got to what could be a tipping pointโ with the viability of mileage-based loyalty programs, Mr. Winship said. In an article on SmarterTravel.com titled โFrequent Flyer Resolutions for 2008,โ he wrote, โMy first resolution is to continue my gradual disengagement from mileage programs.โ
Analyzing airline loyalty among frequent travelers might seem an academic exercise, because industry cutbacks often mean less choice on many routes or, in some markets, virtually no choice.
There is wider competition, however, on long-haul routes and especially on international routes. Brand-conscious airlines such as Southwest and JetBlue, meanwhile, have built solid and even fervent loyalty based mostly on positive image and customer service, not complex frequent-flier programs. Virgin America, a new airline, is hoping to do the same.
STARTING this year and accelerating in coming years, new domestic competition is also expected from well-regarded international airlines able to fly between more cities in the United States as the new Open Skies agreement between the United States and the European Union evolves.
True customer loyalty is defined by long-term trust that a company anticipates a customerโs needs, Mr. Kane said. โThe airlines keep trying to change your behavior rather than changing theirs,โ he said. โWhen an airline makes a big mistake, they want to give me more miles. They donโt understand: I really donโt want to get on your plane under the conditions youโre subjecting me to. Give me good service instead.โ
nytimes.com
WHAT TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE:
- At the same time, every delay, every missed connection and overcrowded plane, every bad meal, every time somebody reclined a seat and rammed it into my knees โ it doesn't matter if it was caused by circumstances beyond the airline's control or not, I blamed them for all of it.
- The reason you think I'm a happy customer is I flew 178,000 miles on you last year โ but that's because I didn't have a choice.
- STARTING this year and accelerating in coming years, new domestic competition is also expected from well-regarded international airlines able to fly between more cities in the United States as the new Open Skies agreement between the United States and the European Union evolves.