Designing A Customer Experience For Business Class Passenger
Designing A Customer Experience For Business Class Passenger
Designing A Customer Experience For Business Class Passenger
With the enormous changes in the airline and aerospace industries with advances in the
information and communication technologies les to the revolution in the consumer behavior.
With the changing needs and preferences, the airline industry is undergoing major transitions
Tei08 \l 1033 ]. The entry of low-cost carriers in the market has led to the dramatic changes
segmenting their customers into business and economy classes by using differentiated price
strategy[ CITATION Tei08 \l 1033 ]. This change in the market landscape has created market
transparency in the favor of customer needs based on their preferences and behavior.
Service quality in the airline industry is linked with the ability of the airline providers to
transport passengers from the point of arrival at the departing airport to the point in which the
service[ CITATION Suk14 \l 1033 ]. On the basis of the previous literature, service quality is
summarized under three schemes; firstly, service quality is difficult to evaluate than the
goods quality; secondly, the comparisons of consumer expectations with actual service
performance leads to service quality perceptions; third, quality evaluations are the process of
quality exist which are disconfirmation approach and the other was performance only
approach. SERVQUAL model was widely applied in the multi-dimensional service quality
tool as the evaluation of service quality is based on the gap between expectations and
performance. The service quality provided by the airline companies have both the fixed and
flexible characteristics. The fixed characteristics are subject to seat size, cargo storage, type
of airplane and airplane maintenance. The flexible characteristics of the airline service
includes inflight services by flight attendants from the point of departure to point of arrival.
Customer satisfaction is linked with the customer’s emotional perception about the service
quality and performance meeting their needs and preferences variables. With the growing
importance and relevance of customer experience in the airline industry, airlines have
introduced differentiation for delivering total customer satisfaction, which generates loyalty
and advocacy and delivers business growth[ CITATION Lam14 \l 1033 ]. The passenger
journey from the point of origin to the point of destination is linked with the overall
satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy were, for most airlines, cabin features followed by crew
(for satisfaction) and inflight food and drink (for loyalty and advocacy) delivering
profitability, revenue and growth [ CITATION Lam14 \l 1033 ]. According to Heskett et al.
(1997)in a study of British Airways they found a potential revenue loss of over £26 million
Airlines receive nearly 60% of their revenue which includes cost of airfare, fees and other
travel expenses the airlines charge from passengers and rest from the credit card companies
and other travel partners by selling frequent flier miles. Out of 60% passenger revenue,
majority of them comes from business travellers that accounts for 12% percent of airlines'
passengers and represents 75% airlines revenue, which is twice as profitable than economy
class passengers[ CITATION How21 \l 1033 ]. According to the survey conducted, it was
found that majority of business class passengers were travelling alone with an average length
of the trip varied from 2- 4 day[ CITATION Dyn20 \l 1033 ]. With the frequent-flier mileage
programs, airlines are making profit from business class travellers and other first-class
passengers that links their credit cards to the programs and allow their consumption and
The point of failure that may impact service quality are the exposure issues such as flight
cancellations, overbooking, strikes, diversions, delays, the attitude of the ground or cabin
customers to make complaints and implement technological support, such as call centres
and internet solutions. With the help of Customers’ journey mapping airlines can truly
understand the feelings of passengers and the corresponding service solutions through
Saj20 \l 1033 ]. However, the point of failures offers an opportunity for service recovery,
resulting in turning unsatisfied customers into loyal ones. For airlines, this means
effectively minimizing passenger betrayal and strengthening the relationship with their
clients by visualizing the relationship between different services components such as people,
props (physical or digital evidence), and processes — that are directly tied to touchpoints in a
specific customer journey using the service blueprint. The service blueprint portrays the
service system that involves service delivery process, the touch points of the customer, the
positions of customers and staff, and the tangible elements of service or facts[ CITATION
Boe20 \l 1033 ].
The extended marketing mix decisions is the integral part of service blueprint design for
successful service delivery to business class passengers includes process, people and physical
evidence. Process is directly related with the service delivery for the customers the best
policy. The airlines performs the process to effectively provide passenger information and
facilities such as scheduled departures and on-time arrivals, quick baggage handling, easy
check-in and boarding process [ CITATION Sap18 \l 1033 ]. The privilege provided to the
business class passenger includes easy check in process and giving BoardMeFirst to avoid the
queue and checking booth. The People in the aviation and service industry are flight
attendants, Travel agent, Customer service and also ground and inflight employee that aids in
providing best class convenience from the point of origin to the destination. Businesses
should ensure that the staffs are well motivated and trained to provide best service quality.
Physical evidence in airlines are the ground environment which are ground handling system,
the baggage facility system and the booking office and In Flight Services such as inflight
In the nutshell, the report concludes that it is fundamental that airport authorities and tourism
associate bodies build collaborative strategies that solidify the relationship with the
destination from within the airport to provide the best service quality to their passengers
based on their needs and preferences. For instance; the collaboration of Changi Airport
(CAG) and Singapore Tourism board (STB) which aimed to boost visitor's awareness and
emotional ties to both Singapore and Changi Airport[ CITATION Pre191 \l 1033 ].
References
An, M., & Noh, Y. (2009, July 11). Airline customer satisfaction and loyalty: impact of in-
Boediman, S. F., & Aditya, M. K. (2020). The Analysis of Service Blueprint Application for
Dynamic surveying for aviation: Business passengers. (2020). Department for Transport.
Laminga, C., & Mason, K. (2014, April). Customer experience — An analysis of the concept
and its performance in airline brands. Research in Transportation Business & Management,
10, 15-25.
Prentie, C., & Kadan, M. (2019, March). The role of airport service quality in airport and
Investopedia Express.
https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/service-recovery-airline-industry
Saputri, M. E., & Sari, D. (2018). The Effect of Service Marketing Mix in Low Cost
Suki, N. M. (2014, April). Passenger satisfaction with airline service quality in Malaysia: A
Teichert, T., Shehu, E., & Wartburg, I. (2008, January). Customer segmentation revisited:
The case of the airline industry. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and
Appendix
Figure 2: Service blueprint