Experience Matters: An Airline Example

Posted by: Alla on: February 11, 2009

• In: thoughts | ux
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I just came back from a trip to Atlanta, and I flew Delta because they are the cheapest to that destination given that Atlanta is their hub. I thought it was really apropos when I read this blog post by Peter Merholz today that specifically talked about the airline industry, where he stated that “Customer experience refers to the totality of experience a customer has with a business, across all channels and touchpoints.”

I chose to fly Delta because of cost, but I looked at the routes that Soutwest, JetBlue, and Virgin flew before looking on Delta because I was willing to pay more for the better customer experience. Unfortunately, none of those airlines went to my destination, so I was forced to pay $15 for one bag, $8 for a sandwich, and $2 for headphones for the pleasure of watching a tiny screen in the middle of the aisle which kind of hurt my neck to look at after a while. I was REALLY unhappy about having to pay for my one bag given that I can’t get threw security with a little bag anymore because of all the liquid restrictions. I hate being nickle and dimed, and I don’t believe the price is even justified anymore given that gas prices have dropped significantly. I guess I would sum up by saying that my experience at all the touchpoints as horrible, and I hope that someone over there reads Peters article.

Tags: airline, experience