Continental Airlines boosts customer service by cutting free food. Huh?

Posted by Kevin Stirtz on March 15, 2010

4 comments | 2939 reads

An extremely exclusive club has just lost another member. Now that Continental Airlines has bagged its free meals I can no longer include it on the “airlines I like to brag about” list.

The list is getting very, very short, by the way. Let’s hope Alaska Air and Singapore Airlines stay in business or this list might disappear altogether.

By cutting out the free meals (in coach) Continental hopes to add $35 million to it’s bottom line. It’s the last major US airline to make the switch.

I get the need to manage costs. And I realize airlines run in packs. I didn’t really expect them to continue offering something for free that their primary competitors charge for. So, when I heard about this change, I had a hard time being critical of them.

Until they started selling this as a customer service booster. According to the AP article published today:

“Continental, which has about 900 daily mainline flights, said its food-for-sale program is about offering passengers more choices.”

Oh really? This is about helping your customers? I guess I missed that part. Because it seems to me, if you are really trying to offer your customers a better experience, you’d continue what you were doing and add more premium food items to the menu. Customers get more choice, you get more revenue. ‘Nuff said.

But let’s get real. This is about a big company cutting costs because they know (or at least they assume) it will not hurt revenue. Improving customer service is not even on the menu here.

This is just one more example of a major US airline treating its customer like second class citizens. (Pig, meet lipstick.) Apparently they don’t think too much of our intelligence.

My advice to Continental:

Stick with the truth. It shows your customers you respect them. And they’ll be more likely to stick with you.

Kevin Stirtz

Kevin Stirtz is a web marketing consultant. He uses SEO, social media and local search strategies and tools to help businesses attract and keep more customers. He is a Certified Inbound Marketing Professional and has written two books about marketing and customer loyalty. Kevin lives in the Twin Cities metro area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN.

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4 comments »

Bob Thompson

March 16, 2010

... "to serve you better"

One of those common euphemisms in business is a statement like "We're making this [insert unpopular change here] to serve you better."

Changes might include...
moving customer service offshore
installing IVRs
downsizing senior staff

and on it goes.

There's no question that companies have to look for efficiency. And some customers are voting with their wallets that low price does matter.

I'd have a lot more respect for Continental and others that are cutting costs to survive to fess up. A little openness and honesty might actually help customers swallow a bitter pill.

So let's give a cheer to the next company that says:
"We're cutting service to save money which helps us stay in business and remain competitive."

JamieSamans

March 16, 2010

Customer Service

For years -- YEARS! -- Continental has been the only airline in the United States to offer free meals to domestic coach passengers. Have they gotten any credit? How many people flew with them because they forewent tens of millions of dollars in revenue during the worst industry conditions in recent history?

None.

Now you dare to claim that Continental should have doubled down by offering "premium" items for free as well -- and that this would somehow have brought in revenue?

Get real. This is a solid company that does a lot right; it's one of the few that still has a pension plan for its employees. But when everyone piles into dirty planes staffed by surly folks because the tickets are $1.35 cheaper, free food is something a top-of-the-line carrier like CAL can't afford to give away.

Barry Dalton

March 23, 2010

Legroom goes the way of the DoDo

Kevin,
I just posted a blog this morning about my friends at Continental. Apparently, the marketing folks are just plum out of ideas. They are now selling, thats right selling for an extra fee, coach seats with more leg room. Correct, that same leg room that used to come as part of your base fare; along with your meal, a pillow and warm blanket, a drink, a checked bag or ten and a reasonably on time arrival.

The industry is truly at a low point. I'm thinking hard about what the answer might be. Not that I'm an airline analyst. But, there was a time, way back when, when the experience was awesome AND the airlines made money. They need to get back to basics. I'm just not sure what those basics are. But, I'm going to think about it and post something as a conversation starter.

Sampson Lee

March 29, 2010

Is 'Costs-cutting' the only way out?

Hi, Kevin,

A timely post.

Airlines are in troubles: price-wars, strikes, rising threat from high-speed railway, just to name a few. Is 'Costs-cutting' the only way out, just as Continental cutting free food?

There are two successful airlines, Singapore, Southwest, offer entire different things to different customer segments, but they've one thing in common: both deliver branded customer experience.

In the case study contributed by a group of master degree students: Cathay Pacific Vs. China Eastern Airlines: A Comparison on their Customer Experiences, authors demonstrated the beauties of branded experience, though you will not find any direct answers to the airlines' problems. However, it inspires ideas and triggers thoughts on how a branded experience could beat competition, earn loyalty, with limited resource.

Have a nice day!

Sampson Lee
[ Connect Sampson on Twitter or LinkedIn ]

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