Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Bad Profits are just plain BAD

I am an American Airlines frequent flyer. While I would not consider myself a promoter (I was Passive), I have just turned Detractor. Oh, I'll continue to fly on American domestically because of the benefits I get, but I have taken my last international flight on American.

Even with flight status, American does not allow electronic upgrades on International flights. To secure a business class seat, you have to use miles and pay a $300 fee EACH WAY! In addition, if you request the upgrade within 30 days of your flight it is a $100 expedite fee! Even then you can be "wait listed" and may or may not get upgraded.

On my recent flight to London I had a nightmare reservation thanks to a travel agent error. This fee structure combined with the fact that American does not fly direct to London, creating a 3 hour delay out of Chicago this week, has changed my Net Promoter status and my "continue to buy". I'm ready for another airline to take me to/from London. If I like them enough I may switch my domestic flights as well.

The point here is this nickle and dime philosophy has cost American my International business. This is the perfect example of what Fred would call bad profits. Profits at the expense of loyalty.

American, do you listen to your customers? Fix this policy! Is it really necessary to charge a $100 expedite fee in todays world of Internet connectivity? What cost do you incur? Is it worth the thousands of dollars I would have otherwise spent to travel back and forth to Europe several times a year?

1 Comments:

At 10:36 PM, Anonymous Lanla.com said...

The point of all this is not to prove that the for-profit or nonprofit form is inherently best for social impact. In fact, the point here is the opposite. Our best chance to make the world better is to agree that the choice among corporate structures should be made entirely in service of social impact.

 

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