Tougher stuff for airlines

But who'll do it first?

As I near the end of my Dominica trip, I dig down through my holiday drawers and see the big fat chunky sweater that I brought halfway across the planet simply "in case it's cold when I land back at home".

I'll by flying back from (endless) summer into (early) autumn this time, so the temperature change won't be so pronounced: But what about the folks making winter/summer trips, who are forced to transport a whole set of warm clothes (and coat, and boots, and woolly hat) into the tropics so they don't die of exposure on the short journey from home to airport? Warm clothes that are simply taking up luggage space and sitting in a drawer through the whole sun-kissed holiday.

Craziness, no?

So who will be the first airline to let me change out of my winter clothes in the plane (or at either airport), put them in a box, and take good care of them for me until the return flight back to my freezing home?

(Or who will be the first airport service provider to offer the same facility?)

Sure, there are other ideas that are easier to organise - there are certainly logistics and security issues here - but I'd shower kisses and loyalty on the first provider who can save me that half a suitcase...

Suitcase and boots shot from metrognome0 at flickr

Virgin gets it

And finally!

I've ranted before about how dreadfully interchangeable and commoditised many airlines are, so Karl Long's Experience Curve post about Virgin America was a breath of fresh air - as well as a pleasing vindication of my own prejudices.

Virgin have invested heavily in customer-oriented technology (power sockets everywhere, seat-to-seat chat functions, computerised drink ordering, computers for everyone and lighting that's groovier than an 110-year-old engraver with a jazz collection and a frown). All very cool indeed.

But even cooler are the things they have done that cost nothing (or at least cost no more than the boring option). My two personal highlights in Karl's report were the staff who are empowered to do their own playful thing (see this article for more on such talent) and - wonder of wonders - a safety video that genuinely makes people laugh!

Extra cost - zilch. Extra effect - priceless! I'll be flying Virgin America as soon as I can.

Virgin interior lighting shot by magitisa at flickr.
Groovy! Have these guys been reading my e-book?

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Earned experiences feel authentic

Heaven is hard work

One of the things that makes - and keeps - Dominica special is that it is a pig to get here. There is no international airport (yet*), so you are forced to island-hop. For us Europeans, it's two days with an overnight hotel stop, multiple borders, wads of forms and all the usual travel unpleasantness. Blurgh.

Of course, when you finally get here it feels even more special because it was hard work. You feel terribly intrepid, and can scoff at the "tourists" who get off the cruise boats for six hours of faked-up Dominica on a Tuesday afternoon.

And that very feeling can cause you to do silly things - like me this evening.

Having spent the day down in the capital, I had three possible ways to get home up the mountain:
1) jump in a taxi-bus and pay five bucks (EC) for the twenty minute ride;
2) hop in the back of a Rasta-driven pick-up and bounce home in a holy haze of ganja at the cost of a few bruised ribs;
3) or, call Q, the long-suffering (and wonderful) Stepdad, and get picked up in style.

Of course, I chose Option 4. Walk.

Now, it's only about four miles up the hill, but it is almost vertical, pitch dark, and terrifyingly precipitous. Substantial stretches of the road are washed out - or at least ankle-breakingly uneven - and most of the strangers you meet on the darkest, loneliest corners are frightfully polite fellows who openly carry knives as long as your arm.

And of course, it was wonderful.

I arrived at the top an hour and a half later, soaked to the skin with sweat. I had taken off the shirt after the first mile - the cataclysmic white flash no doubt causing several ships to run aground. I was sporting two prize blisters on my feet, and grinning like a loony. My family have been here almost two years, but I doubt they have ever experienced "their" road like I did: dancing fireflies, agutis in the undergrowth, glimpses of parties down side roads, the lyrical sound of domestic disputes through open windows, late-night hymns carried on the sultry air, teenagers trying to sell me stuff which they really shouldn't be selling, night birds hooting, and a million billion dwillion stars splashed across the sky. Brilliant.

Now, another traveller could have come up in a taxi, walked about for a bit in the dark, and got many of the same impressions. He would probably have enjoyed himself no end. But not as much as I did.

If we feel we have worked for an experience, we enjoy it more. That is hardly an new insight. But it occurred to me tonight that an earned experience is not just more satisfying, it also feels more authentic, feels more real. And if Messrs Pine and Gilmore are right, the Next Big Thing that customers want is authenticity.

So, how can you make customers think they have earned an experience? A tip: putting the price up is not the only answer - or the best one.

Moonlight photo by jackhynes at flickr
Slender loris by Joachim S Müller at flickr
(I know there are no lori on Dominica. Just testing.)

(* Incidentally, most Dominicans are crying out for that international airport. When they get one, they will lose a major part of their uniqueness. If they are not very careful, they will end up competing on price like all the rest of Disneyland-Caribbean, instead of turning Domenica into the premium destination it should be. Sigh. It's not their fault. People living in a shortage economy do not understand what a USP is...)

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The Girl in the Red Hat

Costuming - and freedom - makes the star

Having ranted a little about boring flying experiences in my last post, I had to come back with at least one highlight. Flying Delta from JFK to San Juan last month, we had an "award winning crew" running the flight. That's the first kudos points right there - telling us that we had a good team, and that the airline was proud of them, made both crew and passengers feel special.

I am not sure what rules Delta have for their clothing, but there seemed to be a good deal of variation in the red and white garb. I am guessing that Delta set the colours, and trust cool people to know what to wear. If so, bravo again, Delta.

Now, one stewardess had really grasped the point. Beside a chic red skirt and sharp white blouse, she had gotten herself a terrific red hat. In that hat, she was the queen of the plane. Wherever she was, you could see her. Whatever she did, she looked great. She looked like an award winner - she looked like a star. And she did an exceptional job.

There point here is not just that pretty girls look good in red hats - that very same hat might not have worked on the other crew members. Crucially, she had chosen to wear that hat herself, and we had been told the crew were the best in the game. She was trusted and valued by her employer, and she was allowed to show it. The result? Everyone - crew and passengers - felt like stars.

PS Experienceologist Stephanie Weaver describes a great American Airlines system for rewarding crew. It even has a showbiz metaphor - take a look.
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Flying the boring skies...

How airlines could change their world - for free

(This blog post was written in 2007. then, some of these ideas have become reality - but airlines still offer largely indistinguishable flying experiences.)

I have done a lot of flying lately, and - like for most frequent fliers - it has been slowly driving me insane. It's not just the interchangeable interiors and workclothes of most airlines, it's the really simple stuff - things that could be changed for free for a far better experience.

Take in-flight announcements for example. Why are they all the same? "We would like to welcome... thank you for choosing... stow your tray-tables ... range of duty-free products.... pleasant rest of your journey..." I mean really, guys, I can "talkalong" with every one of those announcements. Aaaargh!

What a huge opportunity for an airline to stand out from the pack - for absolutely no cost!

The ones who did this best in my recent travels were Liat, the smallest airline I used. The chief stewardess simply got on the intercom and told us a little about our destination as part of the standard announcement. It was mildly interesting, rather charming, and it got people talking. How easy is that?

Imagine a big airline flying into JFK. Why not show a five minute image clip of the city just before landing* - you'd get the film for free from the NYC tourist authority. Why not tell me what the big events in the Big Apple will be this weekend, and let the crewmember (or even passenger) with the best Noo-Yoik accent recommend their favourite parks or local dishes? Heck, let's keep in super-simple: why not just play New York New York on the dang intercom as we come in to land? "Staaaaart spreading the news...." This would cost nothing, folks!

Or, for a small investment, get a good copywriter, author or - better yet - comedian to write your inflight announcements. They could even record them for you.

Another low-tech idea, that wouldn't cost much. When folks get into the plane, give them free postcards. Let them choose between the city they are leaving, and the one they are heading for. The cards could be prepaid, and have a discrete airline logo on the back. Then, when they get off the plane, offer to post the cards for them. Cheap advertising (with an implied endorsement factor), and it extends your user experience both ways...

Given a little more cash, technology could make the flight a heap more interesting. If GoCars can combine GPS technology with a travel guide CD in a scooter, then a big airline can do it for a 747-400. How about a "What's out the window" track on the inflight audio channel? (On flights with very regular routing, you wouldn't even need the GPS). In the more distant future, I can imagine interrogable airplane and car windows. See something interesting out of the window? Just click on it - and learn all about it.

Or how about a seat-to-seat text-based "chat" system? Find out who else on the flight is awake, interesting, and happy to converse. In the business class, it's an instant networking party. For the rest of the plane, it's establishing a community of your customers.

I sometimes feel that airlines - like Victorian mental institutions - are just trying to keep us as quiet and sleepy as possible. Commoditisation, here we come.




* Fabian Segelström points out that this film might interrupt the end of your in-flight-movie. Good call. Instead - what about after landing, during the taxi to the parking position, instead of the boring "Welcome to XYZ, the time here is ABC, and the weather is what you can see out of the window. Thank you for flying Boring Air".

The buck stops... where?

Clear start and stop signals in experience design

One of the real highlights of the recent Dominica trip was certainly the Aerial Tram ride. This is truly a world class attraction, though it suffers very badly from hiding its value - a theme which I discussed in a post just before going there. (On hearing the price, we almost walked away - not realising what a great experience we would be getting for the US$63.) But that's not (as Arlo Guthrie said) what I came to tell you about.

What bugged me a little about the otherwise excellent tram set-up was the carpark. This is the (tree-)top eco-attraction on "the nature island" - but it seems no-one told the bus drivers what that means. They were all great guys and true service professionals, but they would wait for the customers with radios blaring, air conditioning on and engines running - visibly to the dismay of many green-minded visitors.

The question here is, does an Aerial Tram customer see the carpark as part of the "tram territory" or not? Does the drivers' behaviour detract from the eco-feeling? In this case, it certainly did - as the car park was styled and signposted just like the rest of the tram experience.

Now, the guys at the tram company will have to talk to those drivers - or move their signposts back behind the carpark. I hope they choose the former, as I am sure the drivers will be happy to help.

If there are things nearby your offering which do not "fit", then try to change them. Just ask! If they are out of your control, and you cannot move, make sure that the customer sees the borderline. A sign (or better, a ceremony) to welcome the customer, and another to wave them off, is not only good narrative structure, it is also a great way to separate your offering from the "noise" next door.

(I'll have a Video Blog on the Aerial Tram ride available soon. Watch this space.)

Showing hidden values

The making of...

I was up at Dominica's Syndicate Trail a couple of days ago, looking for the famous Parrots Of The Caribbean (sorry).

It's a great little trail - part of a Unesco heritage site - and I noticed that the visitors' centre was fitted out with ecologically-sound solar panels. Now, such technology is a major investment here, yet there was nothing to draw the guest's attention to this feature. It got me thinking about one of the staples of good experience design - the principle of revealing hidden values.

Imagine a visit to the dentist. She scratches around in your mouth for a few minutes, drills a bit, fills the hole, and charges you a couple of hundred bucks. Ow! The pain in your wallet is worse than your aching gums!

Would it take away some of the financial sting if you knew that the chair you are sitting in cost $5000, that the dentist trained for four years at a top school, and that in the next room two highly trained technicians were working on your filling mix? Perhaps the dentist can – discretely – show off some of these hidden values. What about a glass wall between the waiting room and the lab where all the fancy equipment is working away? What about some information on how dentists are made? And what about introducing you to the whole expert team – in person or as photos?

People are genuinely interested in what goes on behind the scenes (why else do we watch so many “making of” documentaries?). Luckily, this gives you a chance to show off those hidden values. So, think about ways that you can tell your customer what they are really getting for their money, and how you can modestly show off your own qualifications, history and investment.

After all, we are all happier paying more, if we understand what lies behind our (parrot's) bill.