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On cleanliness in passenger airlines
Oct 25, 2006
The New York Times reported on a study of the cleanliness of major US passenger airlines. It's instructive, though not surprising, that the two most customer-centered airlines, JetBlue and Southwest, are also the cleanest. From Beware of the Squish Behind the Jet Seat:
One reason that JetBlue and Southwest, two low-cost carriers, won high marks is that their planes are newer. Also, though they tend to have fewer ground employees than long-established airlines like United Airlines and American Airlines, they have company cultures that encourage flights attendants, gate agents and, at JetBlue, even pilots to tidy up.
The article misses one other group that helps clean up JetBlue planes: the customers. Near the end of every JetBlue flight, the flight attendant gets on the intercom and tells customers that JetBlue prices are kept low by customers cleaning up after themselves. At this moment on every single JetBlue flight I've taken, I've seen customers all around me reach to collect their trash... with never a single grumble or complaint.
At least on JetBlue, customers are willing to do some of the work themselves, when (a) they're treated with respect and (b) they can see and experience the effects of their help.
On the other hand, there's always the model of some less highly rated airlines: treat customers poorly, wonder why the business is failing, apply for bankruptcy, reduce pensions, increase layoffs, and outsource plane-cleaning to the lowest bidder.
Which makes a better business: a short-term focus on quarterly results, or a long-term commitment to treating customers with decency and respect?
I remember last year getting on the plane, sitting down in my seat, and overhearing the conversation of two people in the row behind me. One was telling the other how great JetBlue was: its service, its perks, its prices, and so on. The twist was that this was on an American Airlines flight. When a competitor provides the environment for word-of-mouth marketing for your company, you know you have something special.
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P.S. It was no surprise that our Customer Experience Council members last year presented JetBlue with a Copernican Award, given to the most customer-centric companies and organizations in the world. At our fall Council meetings last week, we took nominations for next year's winners, so watch this space...
See also:
• From this past April, "Who's doing it better?"
• 2005 Copernican Award winners
• 2006 Copernican Award winners
I find it a little sad that the last time I sat down in an airplane, there were crumbs on the seat, GOO on the tray and when I asked the flight attendants to bring me something to wipe it off with, they were polite and pleasant, but detached and uneffected.
Can you imagine being at a restaurant and getting this same sort of service? If you looked down and your plate had a glob of goo on it, and your chair had crumbs from the little one sitting there before you?
If we take a genuine look at the two services side by side, we're paying for the experience. I pay to eat a nice meal at a place I don't have to worry about cleanliness. If I told the waiter that a blog of goo was on my plate, most servers would be mortified.
When I get on the plane, I don't want to feel like I'm sitting in 15 other people's cracker crumbs. I want to feel as though I'm the first one to sit there. I KNOW this isn't the case, but I want to feel like it is.