I’m taking a look back at my travels this year and asking myself questions about Passenger Experience Highs and Lows.
Because I seem to have picked up some interesting experiences both in the front and the back of the pane this year.
Let’s do the number and a map:
Maps generated by the Great Circle Mapper – copyright © Karl L. Swartz
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- Total distance: 36,495 miles
- Sectors: 24
- Business Class Sectors 14, Economy Class Sectors 10
- All Window Seats
- Longest Segment: LHR-ORD (3,953 miles)
- Shortest Segement: HEL-TLL (62 miles)
The Highs
- Finnair set the bar high (and nearly impossible to beat this year by anyone) between Helsinki and London. The crew on-point, and a Cabin Service Manager who was happy to talk and offer great customer service.
- Qatar Airways follow that high bar, with a good all round service in their Business Class Cabin.
- There are flashes of good at British Airways – even on a domestic segment. Whilst the product has been run into the ground, some crews really stand out…
The Good
- American Airlines have shown a constant level of customer service in the segments I’ve tried them on this year. A uniform service every flight
- Malaysia Airlines demonstrated that you don’t need an hour to execute good customer service and passenger experience on a short flight – you can do it in under 40 minutes if you put your back into it.
- Aer Lingus showed signed of improvement this year with some of the friendliness returning to the flight I was aboard this year.
The Bad
- From bad to worse – with the introduction of buy-on-board, an abysmal intra-European business class service, the continual joke of the ambient basket pass, and the inability to deliver luggage at their own hub – British Airways has a year to forget this writers eyes.
What does 2018 promise?
- I hear the end of the ambient basket pass in near in BA land. I’ll find out soon enough when I’m back in the air later this year
- Have we reached a bottom-out of the market and frill-cutting? I doubt it. With Basic Fares being the in-thing to combat the low-cost carriers, legacies will be looking to segment and cut even further
- I expect further shake-up of miles and points in Europe. With both Air France-KLM and Lufthansa Miles and More moving to revenue based models, other programmes will be watching carefully.
- I expect more massive orders as airlines continue to renew their fleets
As for me?
- Work is still in a phase of “I can’t catch a break”, so it’s going to be quiet until March for me flying wise unless I find the bargain of all fares.
- Chicago in March is already booked up and ready to write about.
- I’m intending being in the studio as well working behind a camera, taking images I can’t post on this blog.
- I’ll be at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg all week in April you lucky things, catching up with the latest big changes in seats, mouldings, WiFi and whatever else I can find that is vaguely amusing.
- And in May? One word. Eurovision. It’s going to be campabulous.
- And June? I might be spending time with my Irish friends.
Thank you again for spending time at my blog this year. I hope to inform and entertain you as we head into what is shaping up to be yet another interesting year in the Aviation and Passenger Experience worlds.
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