Week 2 - proposed solutions

Proposed solutions to the problems with existing budget airlines: James B

Further research into the biggest occurring problem: delays

I looked into the airline company Airblue, and although it isn't really what you call a budget airline with the sort of prices it charges, it still has the same problems as any budget airline when it comes to delays. Here are some reviews about Airblue’s delays.

• Flight delayed 26 hours! After sitting at the airport for 6 hours, we were taken to a hotel room. Six hours later they took us back to the airport and we had to spend the remaining hours at the airport. Served chips 3 times in 26 hours, this was them taking care of us.
• At check-in told the flight was delayed 3 hours, however airport information board did not show this delay. After 30 mins, the flight was delayed 2 more hours. After 3 hours, it was delayed another 7 hours. No responsible person from the airline available for answering queries. In spite of 12 hours delay, no hotel room provided. The food given in the lounge was not worth eating. All this while there was no airline staff to facilitate or compensate on anything. A 15 hours delay and no compensation whatsoever.
• My flight from Islamabad to Dubai was late by 3 hours. The worst part was the attitude of the ground staff which was very rude and discourteous. Whenever they were requested for any information about the reasons of delaying, they will not give any proper answer and instead of showing any empathy towards passengers, they were rude and showing attitude. One lady among the ground staff even started passing nasty remarks and made fun of the waiting passengers.
• Flight delayed by 11 hours outbound and 2 hours on return. On both occasions no information was given and staff repeatedly told us "15 minutes" and that there were "problems with the plane" (not what any one wants to hear just before take-off!). The Staff were uniformly rude and unhelpful.

Easyjet delay reviews

• Flight scheduled for 3.55pm was delayed due to bad weather, rescheduled, and then delayed again. Finally at around 10pm it was cancelled. At that point baggage had to be reclaimed and new flight arrangements made with Easyjet staff. Other Easyjet flights were also cancelled and there were many passengers trying to make new arrangements and find hotels. There were very few staff available to deal with the situation. Finally close to midnight I spoke to a member of staff and was offered a flight back to Edinburgh on 24 January. No accommodation was offered and we made our own arrangements that night in Geneva. Booked new flights back to Edinburgh with Swiss air that left that day and arrived in Newcastle late on the 20th. There was a sense of chaos and panic in the airport and Easyjet staff. There was little information available and lots of rumours passing around.
• Due to weather in Paris our flight was shown as delayed until further notice, supposed to depart 17.30 - this only showed up 30 minutes before we were supposed to board. We went on the Easyjet website and our flight was shown as cancelled, staff had failed to inform passengers of this! Offered a new flight to London the next morning and Easyjet were going to put us up in hotel for the night let us get on the 06.15 Monday morning flight to London. Check in staff then said there was a flight going Sunday evening at 21.35 so we could get the Eurostar, 2 minutes after we were put onto this flight it was delayed until 01.35 then again until 02.40 and again cancelled not due to weather but due to crew hours! After little communication from staff and 12 hours in the airport, 2 cancelled flights, I would never recommend Easyjet.

Response

It is true that all of these are examples of when delays have not been handled well, and that there are cases where they are dealt with professionally, (e.g. staff informing a customer five hours before the flight that it was delayed by 2 hours,) but it is not the delays that put people off using the airlines again, it is the manner in which they are dealt with. The members of staff play an important role in dealing with delays, and their actions can cost airline companies future passengers. Passengers should in the least expect food, regularly updated information and onsite staff to hand that are well informed and friendly. Depending upon the length of the delay, many passengers expect to be offered hotel accommodation; however, this cannot really be accepted by a budget airline, although Easyjet have been known to give hotels on some occasions. However, travelling to a hotel is time consuming, tedious and expensive for the company and an alternative solution should be provided for the delayed passengers. Delays are always going to happen when travelling by any means of transport; it is just inevitable. However, I feel the ways in which a company can make a situation seem less bad - perhaps even enjoyable - is what should be addressed, so that instead of putting numerous passengers off flying with a budget airline again, a cheap yet effective solution can be enforced to ‘inspire loyalty’ and perhaps give them a better reputation.