Case Analysis: Manage Expectations

<p><em>Airlines should accept and passengers need to understand that there will always be limitations around an in-flight meal experience<br><br><strong>By Rahul Deans</strong></em><br><br>This case study on swiftair goes to the heart of a problem faced by the airline industry — particularly in India. Two sets of stakeholders — the passengers and the press — have a perception about the industry that is significantly different from reality. Airlines only seem to reinforce these perceptions rather than correct them.<br><br>Passengers often feel that service levels in airlines should be very superior since “we pay so much” and because even now, barely 2 per cent of the Indian population flies. This year’s estimate of&nbsp; nearly 70 million domestic passengers that the industry seems excited about is really 35 million return trips. Assuming just 1.5 trips per person per year, that is just 24 million passengers, or 2 per cent of the Indian population. Thus flying is still seen as something for the elite.<br><br>Passengers tend to be more demanding and while airlines struggle to please them in an adverse operating environment, they make little effort to communicate proactively with them, despite passengers being more understanding of problems that airlines might face.<br><br>In the West, by contrast, a two-hour flight is seen as just another form of transport, no different from a train or bus journey and expectations around food that a passenger has during the journey, for all these modes of transport, are the same.<br><br>Similarly, aviation seems to be a high profile sector for the press to write about — often with a lot of hyperbole. Headlines like ‘Miraculous Escape For (Air) Passengers’ are given for incidents where no one had a chance of getting injured — with more coverage compared to a rail accident with fatalities! The fog season brings stories of air passengers getting stranded, without the media displaying any understanding of how the country’s poor airport infrastructure makes that inevitable. Yet, the media is receptive to transparent communication and would be happy to report from an airline’s point of view if it&nbsp; believes the story is newsworthy.<br><br>When I worked for a domestic airline, we conducted surveys among passengers which consistently showed that the quality of in-flight food was the least important factor in determining their preference for an airline. Since food is not prepared by the airline but by specialist caterers who cater to multiple airlines, it is also most difficult to differentiate the airline based on the quality of food. The multiple steps and agencies involved, coupled with a high tax structure, make it difficult to make a significant profit on food and beverage sales, while the limitations imposed by the aircraft in flight make serving a tasty meal very difficult. For a domestic airline, trying to differentiate on the basis of superior inflight food (and not for example, convenience, on time performance, or fares), is neither possible nor desirable.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br>&nbsp;<br>Apart from the problems around the food served in an aircraft that the case study mentions, a problem all airlines face is that once in the air, the pressure and humidity in the cabin, along with background noise, diminish one’s sense of taste by around 30 per cent. For example, a meal would have to have 30 per cent more salt to taste as salty as it does on the ground. Food has to be precooked and preheated. Cutlery has to be plastic. Add to this, people eating in close proximity to each other (a non-veg meal would be inches away from someone eating a veg meal), food smell circulating around the cabin, often inadequate time to clean food spills between halts, eating with your elbows tucked in, while the kid behind you kicks the seat, all make for an experience that is far less pleasurable than eating in a restaurant — even if the quality of food is as good and the quality checks arguably more stringent.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>In this context, SwiftAir should look at reducing passenger expectations around food and the role of food itself. In the past, the food and beverage service on an airline — particularly on long-haul sectors, was considered a substitute to entertainment. Today, with inflight movies and music and passengers having their Kindles, they are entertained by entertainment and not food. &nbsp;<br><br>A limited, easy to understand menu of non-smelly, non-messy food which the passenger pays for is probably the most efficient option — something Indigo does well. Many airlines including British Airways and American Airlines do not serve meals on short-haul flights.<br><br>The incident, where a lizard was seen around a meal, is a serious lapse (albeit a seemingly one-off incident) and while the airline should unconditionally apologise, and study the incident to understand why it happened, it would provide a good opportunity for the airline to engage with the media and consumer groups to explain to them how food is prepared and what some of the problems are.<br><br>Along with the menu, a note on ‘Inflight meal FAQs’ could be made available to passengers, who will then show more understanding of the constraints an airline faces around its inflight food. The media too shows understanding when an organisation facing a problem comes clean, is seen to be transparent and engages in a fact-based discussion. The airline can offer interested passengers and the media a tour of the in-flight caterers’ facilities, or a behind-the-scenes look at how a meal gets on an aircraft and is served.<br><br>This would be a good opportunity for the airline to discuss broader issues with the media. For example, while there is a lot of praise for the swanky new terminal in Mumbai airport, the larger problem is that the airport is saturated and cannot accommodate more flights (Delhi airport too will soon be in the same position). Building new terminals sharing the same runway does not add capacity. The larger question the media should be asking is how the industry can grow when the two biggest airports (accounting for over 40 per cent of India’s departures) cannot grow and restrictions exist for other major airports. That question will be asked if airlines have a healthy dialogue with the media, rather than react defensively when a problem occurs.<br><br>Similarly, rather than reporting on ‘near miss’ incidents, about which the media often lacks technical knowledge, airlines could get the media to highlight, for instance, how the slums and garbage outside airports greatly increase the chance of a bird strike, or why airports in India are still unable to operate when there is fog. These are more newsworthy, but are not reported because neither side makes the effort to get the story out.&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br>There is more that can be done with food if airlines accept and passengers understand that there will always be limitations around an in-flight meal experience. When pre-booking meals, passengers can be given the option of customising their meal. Customers are always more satisfied with something they have co-created and the complexity is easily managed by a flight kitchen. Why can’t an airline sell food coupons, redeemable in outlets in the food court of an airport, prior to departure. Outlets will be happy to provide discounts, part of which can be shared with the passenger buying a coupon. This would leave the airline with a similar margin to what they might have got selling a meal in-flight. The growth of e-wallets will facilitate this arrangement. The idea could be refined to offer, for example, a great deal on a south Indian breakfast, or a pizza-based meal for a family at lunchtime. Airlines could tie up with nearby hotels, which could offer passengers a discounted meal, while completing their check-in formalities and dropping them to the airport, which would provide the airline flexibility in their choice of hotels.<br><br>A similar opportunity might exist, for example, for passengers arriving at their destination at breakfast time — too early to begin their business engagements. Such tie-ups between airlines and hotels/ restaurants already exist, with loyalty programmes, catering for off-loaded passengers, etc. This would need a mindset change by airlines, who should move away from maximising in-flight meal revenue to reducing dissatisfaction with in-flight meals. This can be done while ensuring that the sale of food and beverages, in whatever manner they are offered to passengers, is profitable and the quality consistent with the image of the airline.<br><br>Will Ruzbeh tell his customers that rather than drink a poor quality instant coffee in-flight (which may spill if there is a turbulence), he would offer them a discount on a wide variety of coffee at the airport coffee shop?&nbsp; &nbsp;<br><br><em>The writer is CEO of Cocoberry. He has worked in the FMCG, retail and airline sectors</em><br><br>(This story was published in BW | Businessworld Issue Dated 02-11-2015)</p>