We have a couple of new safety videos that were released this week. In my mind, the ultimate question here is… will people pay attention? First up is Air New Zealand’s pure commercial Hobbit video:
Then Delta brought out two versions of its new safety video that relies on much more subtle (too subtle?) humor:
See the alternate version here.
What do you think? Like ‘em? Hate ‘em? Don’t care in the least?
Greetings from Seattle. It’s a busy week here at the Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) 2011 Expo. I’ll be writing about several things over the next couple weeks, but I wanted to start with the award which I helped judge. This year, Air New Zealand won the award for the Best Single Achievement in the Passenger’s Experience with the intro of the SkyCouch.
So why did we pick Air New Zealand? I can’t speak for all the judges, but I do like to give a little more rationale on why I personally picked Air New Zealand as the winner.
This award honestly was a little tricky. APEX used to be the WAEA and focused on inflight entertainment. Now with the broader focus on passenger experience, there was a much bigger pool of candidates. By the time we got to judge, it had been narrowed down to five finalists.
We judged on four categories – Innovation, Sustainability, Benefit to the Passenger, and Benefit to the Airline Industry. These guys were all deserving of being in the finals, but for me, the toughest choice was between Air New Zealand and Delta.
For those who don’t know, the SkyCouch was introduced late last year when Air New Zealand decided to offer 3 coach seats on the side of the cabin that can be turned into a flat bed-like space. It’s not a great bed for people to stretch out (that’s was biz class is for), but it’s great for families, especially with small kids. It was also accompanied by new meal options and inflight entertainment, much with kids in mind.
@DeltaAssist is Delta’s creation of a Twitter channel that allows it to provide real time customer service and then communicate throughout the organization.
Both of these are excellent, so how did I end up going with Air New Zealand?
Really all the finalists were sustainable, so that wasn’t an issue this late in the judging process. It was the other three categories required some serious and thoughtful deliberation. We spent quite a bit of time working through this – it was actually a lot of fun.
Benefit to the Passenger
@DeltaAssist provides a new way to get quick customer service responses, so that’s a big benefit. Right now, I imagine it’s a lot of tech-savvy 20 and 30 somethings, but it’s bound to grow beyond that as people learn how useful it can be when they need help.
On Air New Zealand, coach passengers now have a way to get more comfortable on long haul flights, but it’s not just the seat. It’s the way that the airline has focused on creating new food options for adults and children. It’s the entirely new kids experience with inflight entertainment as well. It’s the whole package.
The result is happier coach passengers for a variety of reasons. It’s adults who can get somewhat more comfortable than in a normal coach seat. It’s also kids who might actually sleep on an airplane. Happy kids mean happy parents, and that also means other passengers are happy on the airplane if kids aren’t screaming.
This also should spur further innovation in the back of the bus, and that could make this an even bigger achievement. According to Air New Zealand, the SkyCouch has been a real success commercially. The airline can now show that there is a way to improve the passenger experience and make money doing it in coach. Others have noticed and that can only be good for passengers.
Benefit to the Airline Industry
Air New Zealand appears to have found a way to increase revenue in coach by providing a unique product. That’s a big win in an industry that often looks at coach like it’s a commodity. It’s easy to come up with ideas, but it’s not easy to see them to fruition and then actually make them a success.
@DeltaAssist, meanwhile, can help increase productivity of customer service reps while providing a strong brand benefit. It also can help fix travel problems before they become big problems. It’s also a big win.
Innovation
So for me it really came down to innovation as the differentiator. What Delta is doing is excellent and it is innovative for sure, but on the innovation scale, the SkyCouch is off the charts. It is a brand new, incredibly creative idea that required a great deal of risk-taking. And it paid off.
The willingness of Air New Zealand to put money and effort into developing something like this is impressive. It has improved the passenger experience for Air New Zealand’s customers, and it might just provide the catalyst airlines around the world need to put more resources into the coach cabin.
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How An Airline Justifies Investing in Its Onboard Service (Since Most Don’t) – BNET Headwinds
I sat with Air New Zealand’s outgoing chief of long haul Ed Sims to talk about how the airline decided to invest in the product.
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My plan to do some limited hiring has been thwarted by complex regulations around having an employee. I need to find a different way.
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US News decided to rank America’s safest airlines. This is ridiculous.
Just before Christmas, Air New Zealand took delivery of its very first 777-300ER. These airplanes are meant to replace the 747-400s that do the long haul flying for the airline, and Air NZ has really done a fantastic job making the experience much better than the airline’s already high quality experience out there today. While the airplane may look like any other 777 on the outside, what Air New Zealand has done on the inside makes it one of the best products I’ve seen. And this isn’t just from pictures. I was able to take a tour of the airplane when it stopped in LA on its delivery flight.
When I went down to New Zealand for the interior unveiling last January, it looked like a very ambitious effort. I liked what I saw, but it was just a prototype in a nondescript space in Auckland. Seeing it all on the airplane in full force really hammers home how great this is. And it’s not just the seats. It’s really the entire experience. That’s something that only rarely gets enough attention. Below, I have six videos that take a tour through several parts of the onboard experience. Take a look and then come back for more discussion.
Having been on the airplane, I have to say that it’s different, and even better, in person. The airline really has set a standard for travel, actually making its seats white and “ink” (um, black) with mood-lighting to make it feel more like a private jet experience. Being onboard, you really get that sensation more than on any other commercial airline I’ve been on. (And no, I haven’t been on the Singapore A340-500 with 100 biz class seats.)
The seats are innovative in all three cabins and they all appear to be contenders for best-in-class. But I’ve already talked about those when I visited Auckland last year. What really grabbed me was the soft product and the way that it caters to the customer in ways that I don’t think we often see from airlines. It also adds some of that Kiwi humor into the mix to prevent people from taking themselves too seriously.
For example, the lavs have wallpaper on the side with different designs. One has a bookshelf with a bunch of books (including the “Kiwis Have Big Noses” tome which is apparently highly respected in academic circles). Another has a chandelier one one side with what looks like the reflection on the adjacent wall. The reflection, however, has knives, spoons, and yes, forks in it. My favorite might be the lav which actually has a window inside. Across from the window, you see this:
I also like that the amenity kits in business class have eyeshades with different designs on them. Some have old-time aviator goggles, others have bird eyes. The idea being that seeing some of the high-powered Kiwi businesspeople walking around in their pajamas wearing these things will help to lighten the mood a little. I agree, and it’s very New Zealand-appropriate.
Another thing that Air New Zealand has figured out is that if you make kids happy, their parents will be happy. And since Air New Zealand carries a ton of family leisure travelers, that’s really important. If the airline knows a kid is traveling, the headrest will be given the kids’ cover to make it special. Also, when the kid arrives at the seat, there will be a snackbox waiting. Kids don’t always wait for mealtime, so this will be a welcome way to start the flight. The kids will also get a bag with a bunch of goodies and there’s an extensive kid section on the inflight entertainment. That’s just smart.
Possibly one of the more interesting moves is the use of common space. Virgin Atlantic certainly has done this well with the bar for premium passengers, and Air New Zealand will do the same thing with a twist. In the front galley, they will be able to hold wine tastings with its Kiwi wines for business class customers. It’s a good move because it fits with the Kiwi wine culture, just as Virgin Atlantic’s cool bar fits with its image.
In the back galley, the crew expects to have story time for kids. They can read to the kids or they have a 23 inch LCD screen that can have movies shown. Getting the kids together and relieving the parents from duty for a little while is going to pay dividends.
In the end, Air New Zealand has really created a special atmosphere on the airplane and that’s something very few airlines have been able to do. The airplane starts flying some days between LA and Auckland on January 16. By April, flights 1 and 2, the ones that go between Auckland, LA, and London will have the new product.
Social Media May be Hot, But It’s Not for Everyone – BNET
I look at social media at the Singapore Airshow to figure out why it matters. (In this case, I don’t think it does.)
Two Reasons Why Japan Air Lines Chose American and oneworld over Delta and SkyTeam -BNET
JAL has chosen American and oneworld, and I think there are really two reasons for it.
United Airlines Posts an Excellent January, Industry Traffic Data Roundup – BNET
Huge kudos to United for now offering revenue estimates each month. And January was a great month to start because they had stellar numbers.
Air New Zealand’s Secret Weapon: War Dances and Happy Customers – BNET
One more look at Air New Zealand’s culture thanks to a unique award acceptance speech that saw CEO Rob Fyfe go topless. (If this post sounds a bit odd, it’s because it’s the first one under the new policy that all posts at BNET go through an editor.)
