Big data playing bigger role as airlines personalize service
It might feel like the flight crew has been scouring your recent social media posts, but at some airlines, that wouldn’t be necessary.
Carriers like United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines are giving gate agents and flight attendants access to more customer data in hopes of giving passengers more personalized service.
Still, there’s only so much a birthday greeting can do to make up for a lost bag or late arrival, particularly when airlines want to steer clear of conversations that feel too personal. While in-cabin recognition might be the most visible way airlines are working to do more with the troves of data they collect, behind-the-scenes efforts to mine stats on everything from collisions between airport vehicles to turbulence touch almost every piece of a passenger’s trip.
Most of the data they’re working with is the sort of information airlines have long collected. And there’s no shortage: a Boeing 787 generates half a terabyte of information per flight, said JJ DeGiovanni, a managing director with United’s corporate safety team. The challenge is figuring out how to use it in ways that are meaningful for the airline and its passengers.
When it comes to personalized service, just how meaningful today’s programs are depends on whom you ask.
Jay Sorensen, president of airline consulting firm IdeaWorks, said he’s skeptical that employees would have the right kind of information—or the time—to add real value for flyers, outside of a handful of cases, like helping passengers at risk of missing a connecting flight get off the plane first. Even if an airline could anticipate your drink order, placing it isn’t a strenuous task, he said, and flight attendants have other tasks to juggle.
“In coach, it’s just not going to happen,” Sorensen said.
But passengers do seem to appreciate the personal touch, said Allison Ausband, Delta’s senior vice president of in-flight service. Delta aims to have those personal interactions with about 20 travelers per flight, either in conversations or through postcards flight attendants can hand-deliver. Priority goes to those who had some type of disruption on a recent flight, such as a lengthy delay.
“They want us to know them and know what’s happening to them when they’re doing business with us,” Ausband said.
For now, most of the passenger information flight attendants can access to personalize in-flight service is the sort of thing airlines already track, like frequent flyer status, or details included in every booking, like a passenger’s date of birth and connecting flight.
But both Delta and United said they’re experimenting with adding additional information, such as food and beverage preferences.
“The trick to all of this is how to provide good, relevant information that’s easy to use and doesn’t get in the way of their primary job of safety and service,” said Linda Jojo, United’s chief digital officer.
Southwest Airlines is testing a similar program that would help customer service agents spot “key customers” at the gate, where they can try to resolve a problem or just wish the passenger a happy birthday, spokesman Dan Landson said.
Giving flight attendants and gate agents access to that information wasn’t practical until they began carrying mobile devices that do double duty, accepting payments for in-flight purchases and tracking which passengers are entitled to perks like a drink or meal, said Robert Mann, a New York-based airline industry consultant.
At United, those devices also can issue immediate compensation for in-flight issues like a broken entertainment system. Options can include free food or drink, frequent flyer miles or another form of credit, Jojo said.
Airlines also say they’re trying to strike a balance between a welcome personal touch and getting a little too personal. What one traveler considers great service, another might find invasive.
