CustomerUnderground is mad as hell and low cost carriers are to blame

Over at the CustomerUnderground I posted a 5,500 word rant about my living, loving and hating Dell. CustomerUnderground co-founder "Higherthanexpectedcallvolumes" has posted a piece that might interest you. He has put up an old school customer I've-had-enough-a-thon about the low cost carrier business. The trigger the story of a nurse who tried to help another passenger on a Jetstar flight. As a result she missed her return journey and Jetstar tried to charge her to rebook her flight.

Check out the rant here - it is called "Why do Low Cost Airlines Hate their Passengers (and What Do We Do About it)?"

Virgin Blue starts brand review - why not rebrand Ansett?

News out that Virgin Blue CEO John Borghetti has brought on long term collaborator Hans Hulsbosch to help with a brand review for Virgin Blue.

Hulsbosch previously helped Qantas with their brand review though I think the minimal changes of lengthening the Roo tail and slanting the acronym is more of a tweak than a review.

From press reports it looks like nothing is off the table including scrapping the use of the world "Virgin". Given the current DJ product and announced plans for it, I recommend DJ drop the Virgin brand, write a cheque to administrators KordaMentha and re-brand the whole business Ansett.

I am being facetious of course but there is some rational thinking behind this. Below is a table comparing the Ansett of 2001 with the Virgin Blue product of the same year and of 2010

My point is that as Virgin Blue chases more and more of the Qantas business (aiming to increase corporate share from 5% to 20%) it is getting closer and closer to the Ansett business model and further and further away for what made it a success. From the table you can see that the edgy brand and free food are the last pieces differentiating DJ from Ansett. They need to be very careful in this process that DJ do not end up catching just enough of Qantas share to lose what built their brand and suffer the same fate as Ansett.

PS: for those that don't know Ansett was the long term Star Alliance full service competitor of Qantas that went bust in 2001 after (but not caused by) Sept 11. Virgin Blue launched in August 2000

Follow #APAOS for updates from Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit. BOOT on stage at 2.35pm

I will be speaking and tweeting today (Thursday) from the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010 at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney (Travel Technology & Distribution day). I am on stage at 235 pm on The role of airlines and distributors in the “inspiration funnel” and will be back at 440pm on a panel for Leveraging social media to create customer interaction and brand awareness

If you want tweet coverage of the conference then track the hashtag #APAOS. I also recommend following @winglets747 and @sam_lindner for their coverage

Liz Savage (EGM Commercial) of Virgin Blue on the difference between Euro and AU Air markets

For part of today I was at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010. Highlight speaker of the seasons I listened to was Liz Savage the (relatively) new Chief Commercial Officer (now Executive General Manager Commercial) of Virgin Blue. Ninemsn is carrying the traditional news part of her speech around DJ's determination to carve a space in between the hard core low cost of Tiger yet steal premium customer share from Qantas. She announced a desire to double DJ's share of the corporate sector from 10% to 20%.

Savage's background (linkedin profile here) was with easyjet and Monarch. She took some time in her speech to share three key differences between the Low Cost/New World Carrier market in Europe and Australia. They are:

1. Number of competitors and low cost carriers: Compared to her time in Europe, Savage was intrigued to discover how concentrated market share was in Australia. This lack of competition was particularly acute for Savage when it came to LCCs. Europe is filled with point to point low cost carriers. Savage mentioned that her previous employer - Monarch - was a medium sized carrier (some 30 aircraft and 100 routes) but was also a profitable airline and of size enough to compete. In Australia, no matter how you measure the market, there a very limited number of competitors - on an absolute scale and relative to Europe;
   
2. Number of secondary airports: Savage reminded us that the success of Ryanair was in no small part due to the use of secondary airports. In Australia there are virtually no secondary airports, forcing low cost and new world carriers to sit with the same airport cost base as the full service/premium carrier(s); and
   
3. Need for an international network: European LCCs can survive and prosper on the back of point to point short haul. But given Australia's distance and market, a carrier must says Savage have an international network (either directly or a virtual one via alliances).

Great to get a new view on the Australian market. Any other major differences between the Euro and Australian air markets?

The BOOT at Asia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 27-30 July - Sydney

I will be speaking this week at the Australia Pacific Aviation Outlook Summit 2010 at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney. The conference runs July 27-30. Day three of the conference (July 29) is the "Travel Technology & Distribution day".

Also speaking on the Tech and Distribution day are:

• Richard Noon (CEO Webjet);
• Claire Hatton (Head of Travel, Government and Local for Google);
• Steve Sherlock (MD Oodles);
• Shashank Nigam (SimplyFlying) and
  
• Martin Symes (CEO Wego)

I am in two sessions

Solo at 235 pm on

The role of airlines and distributors in the “inspiration funnel”

* What are the four phases of online travel?
* How consumers get from an idea to going away and making a booking
* The role of airlines, tourism authorities and OTAs in the inspiration funnel

and on a panel at 440 on

Leveraging social media to create customer interaction and brand awareness

* Making better use of existing channels vs investing resources in newer distribution avenues
* How well do suppliers understand the value proposition of social media?
* Brand management through social media
* Integrating User Generated Content into the booking path

Hat tip in advance to Martin Collings of the Shearwater blog who first introduced me to the role of airlines in the bow tie/inspiration funnel.

Water Skiing Aircraft - video

Sure we now know thata- but can a plane water ski??? Must watch video of the Flying Lions Aerobatic Team "water skiing" in South Africa using four T6 Harvard Aircraft.



Hat tip to my Dad for sending me this link

Cathay Pacific vs Virgin Atlantic business class - the battle of the herringbone seats

I did a post yesterday with mine and Skytrax's airlines of the year. Numbers one and two on my list were Cathay Pacific (CX) and Virgin Atlantic (VS). There was a debate in the comments on the merits of the CX herringbone business class seat vs the VS herringbone. Hence this post - the battle of the herringbones. Why I think the CX herringbone beats out the VS version.

Three reasons why I think CX herringbone is better than VS

1. The entertainment system starts as soon as you sit down whereas VS make you wait until after take off and after a welcome on-board video has finished;
2. The CX seat converts to bed without having to get out of seat whereas the VS seat is a flip to bed version. Means you have to get out of the seat, convert to a bed and get back in; and
   
3. The VS seat narrows to the feet a little more making it slightly tighter in fit that the CX version.
   

Three reasons why VS herringbone is better

1. The on-board bar is a smash hit (hold on that is not related to the seat!);
2. The Upper Class Lounge at Heathrow is nearly unmatchable in quality (QF first class Sydney is its only competitor). With a haircut, spa bath, sauna and video games. (hold on that is not related to the seat either!); and
   
3. You get pyjamas on VS (hmmm...also not related to the seat)

I am being mean to VS. Focusing just on the seat, here are the three VS winners:

1. The table is large and can be moved to allow you to get out without having to put the table away;
   
2. The doona is much more bed like that CX's making for a more bed like feel; and
3. Big pillow - also better for a bed like feel.
   

Very close fight but CX by a whisker.

Full CX business class seat review here. Full VS business class (upper class) seat review here.

thanks to Lora_313 for the photo via flickr

Skytrax vs the BOOT - airline of the year rankings

Every year Skytrax publishes the results of their Annual World Airline Awards survey, Most years since the launch of the BOOT I follow up by ranking my top airline choices against the Skytrax winners. [here are my 2006 rankings and 2008 rankings].

This year I have the added content weight of 10 airline seat reviews to draw on (all here). On to the list

Skytrax top ten Airlines of the Year 2010

1. Asiana Airlines
2. Singapore Airlines
3. Qatar Airways
4. Cathay Pacific
5. Air New Zealand
6. Etihad Airways
7. Qantas Airways
8. Emirates
9. Thai Airways
10. Malaysia Airlines

[notes SQ down a place, CX down two places and Qantas down 4 place]

The BOOT's top five airlines

1. Cathay Pacific (up 3 places due to new herringbone seats)
2. Virgin Atlantic (steady)
3. British Airways (steady - despite crew troubles their flat bed seat is still a winner)
4. Qantas (up a spot)
5. Singapore Airlines (down 4 spots - I don't like the new seat. Too wide, not long enough).

Where do you stand?

Update (check out the Professor's rankings here)

Update 2 - why Cathay just beats Virgin Atlantic in my rankings in a post "Cathay Pacific vs Virgin Atlantic business class - the battle of the herringbone seats"