Cancel and be damned

Last weekend, I flew on a low cost flight between Amsterdam and Vienna. Operated by SkyEurope, both the outbound and return flights were late evening flights. Thankfully, both flights passed without mishap, but suppose SkyEurope had been forced to cancel one of the flights due to bad weather, technical difficulties or whatever other reason.

In the circumstances I would not have been satisfied with a simple apology along the lines of “sorry for the inconvenience” and I would have been upset to say the least if no alternatives were offered and I was left to my own devices either to arrange a hotel stay on my own or stay the night in the airport lounge.

Of course, cancellations are not always avoidable and they can often result in angry and disgruntled customers. How airlines deal with cancellations shows the very heart and soul of their customer relationship policy. The question is, to what extent do airports have a responsibility to overcome the negative consequences of airline cancellations?

Passengers who pay peanuts

Passengers who pay a few cents for flights over hundreds of miles should have realistic expectations of their carrier’s cancellation policy. Expecting a free Sheraton hotel voucher to compensate for the unexpected cancellation of a Euros 61 return flight is ridiculous. But it is also true that nobody wants to spend a night in an uncomfortable lounge chair at the airport. Passengers have every right to hold their airline responsible for the immediate consequences of any cancellation, whether it is beyond the airline’s control or not.

Nowadays, passengers are primarily customers of an airline as they buy their ticket directly with a low cost carrier. Since service recovery solutions are often expensive, they are not popular among low cost carriers. It is for this reason that few low cost carriers operate a service recovery policy or a service recovery department. As a consequence they face the difficult challenge of adopting an approach focused both on cost control and appropriate customer relationship management.

Taking on responsibility

The position of airports in an airline’s cancellation is somewhat ambivalent. Over the years, more and more airports have adopted passengers as their customers, rather than being facility service providers to airlines only. If airports consider passengers as their customers as well, they should also be there for their customers in times of trouble. Only considering passengers as customers as long as they contribute to the airport’s non-aeronautical revenues, but denying any responsibility when it comes to late-night cancellations smacks of corporate cherry-picking and is unlikely to win any friends.

Though they are inconvenient for passengers, cancellations provide ideal opportunities for airlines and airports alike to excel in customer service and show their hospitality. What is necessary is a cooperative joint airline-airport service recovery policy that makes clear what actions should be taken (and by whom) if a cancellation occurs. Executing such a policy when necessary provides a prime opportunity for airport operators to generate positive publicity and to build a reputation for taking customers seriously.

Of course it is also important to manage expectations, so passengers have a realistic understanding of what service recovery solution they will be offered.

Whatever solution is found, it should fit with the low cost business model of airlines and also with the business model of low cost airports or low cost terminals.

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