[MartynSinclair]

Keeping the important customers happy is just part of the cost of running a business.

Retaining the customers goes beyond cost…..

[KeaneJohn]

VK I am not expecting a response from a CEO of a company what i do expect is that when I do bring a genuine grievance to someone’s attention I do expect a response. Taking 3 weeks and 8 weeks to deal with minor but justifiable issues on CE tickets isn’t really acceptable.

Furthermore the answer to the feedback given previously on Flyer Talk from BA speaks volumes 630+ posts and I would guess not more than 20 positive ones. There are a lot of very frequent travellers in F and J cabins there that aren’t happy and BA’s response says everything and clearly indicates that they are not listening to feedback at ANY level.

[VintageKrug]

Well, they ARE listening to PatJordan.

And my discussions with BA staff and BS staff in the lounges suggest that the concerns are being heeded.

Retention is important, and BA’s success in this area is evident from the 3.9% increase in revenue passenger kms year to date, when compared to 2012.

[MartynSinclair]

kms ??

[esselle]

VK
Are you still running your local Onan chapter, or have you moved on?

[KeaneJohn]

Interesting point you have VK.. whilst it might be apparent to you that they are listening theres 600 plus posts from people on another forum that don’t get that impression especially from the message that BA gave out.

Seems there is a clear breakdown in communication.

[VintageKrug]

kilometers, Martyn.

RPkms is a standard measure reported in every IAG Monthly Traffic Stat.

[MartynSinclair]

I guessed you were going to say that……. is passenger revenue per kms unique to IAG??

Surely customer retention can only be measured by the actual number of passengers travelling..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revenue_passenger_mile in case anyone else is interested..

[Guest_Poster]

RPKm/RPM

If anyone would like to see the growth in RPM at Ryanair, then look at page 41 of this report

http://www.ryanair.com/doc/investor/2012/final_annual_report_2012_310712.pdf

A sustained 10% or more.

So Ryanair are more than two times better at generating customer satisfaction, by that measure.

[VintageKrug]

Welcome back, Guest_Poster.

I wasn’t using RPkm to measure customer satisfaction.

As discussed previously, Ryanair is at a different phase of its cycle, being a high growth “challenger” airline, whereas BA is an established carrier.

And BA is focussed on higher margin, low volume premium customers, which makes even its more modest increase more relevant. Ryanair, like most LCCs chases the high volume, low margin market.

[BigDog.]

There is little point in trying to make a case Guest_Poster with someone who sticks with such a vacuous rationale regardless.

It is interesting that Globally RASK/CASK has increased at a greater rate than BA’s own RASK/CASK – BA is getting an ever smaller share of an increasing cake, unfortunately the guy is unable to see past his own marketing hype and delusion.

[openfly]

VK Read the title of this thread, please. I fail to see the logic of going into one of your rants about wasting CEOs time and money has any relevance. There are times, and they are quite frequent, when one wonders if you are on the same planet as the rest of us.

I suppose I am up for a verbal tirade now……hehe!

[VintageKrug]

Well, I’m off to sit by my pool.

Have a lovely day, children!

[Guest_Poster]

If satisfaction does not drive retention, then what does? I think you picked the wrong measure, per Martyn Sinclair’s comment at 29/05/2013 19:41 GMT

Your post is an interesting line to take, but let’s consider the facts.

British Airways is only about 11 years older than Ryanair and the latter has a larger fleet size, by about 50 aircraft.

I would challenge you to justify how Ryanair, with a track record of neary 30 years and which carries more passengers than British Airways and has a much larger fleet, is a ‘Challenger.’ A more reasonable assertion is that it is an innovator who left British Airways in its wake some time ago..

The facts show that Ryanair is a very successful and established airline, over a sustained period of time, adjusting its operation from an under performing ‘me too’ scheduled airline with business class and economy model to a no frills operation.

This decision took vision and courage by the board and underpins the most consistently profitable airline in Europe today; the legacy carriers could have made similar choices, but did not, so faint heart never wins fair lady. If Ryanair had not makde the switch, it is likely the company would not have survived Gulf War 1 (yes, it had been in operation for 5 years by then,)

“And BA is focussed on higher margin, low volume premium customers, which makes even its more modest increase more relevant. Ryanair, like most LCCs chases the high volume, low margin market.”

This comment shows a lack of appreciation of Ryanair’s strategy, it is a company that focused on its cost base, but one should not assume that this always means low margin business, the company has the ability to use the cost base to price according to its strategy for a particular market, as well as making tactical decisions. The airline’s very high contribution from non-flying activities is also a significant part of the profitability, highly innovative.

[NTarrant]

Do some really think that someone like Keith Williams is going to have time to read letters of complaint and respond to them? May be the odd one here and there but he is unlikely to respond to the 600+ that might contact him from Flyertalk. I just think that it is unreasonable to expect a response from the man.

Pat Jordan received a response, not from the man himself, but he has had a response. A few years ago I complained to customer services of P&O Cruises, when I received a rather tardy reply I wrote again but this time to the MD, only to get a response from the very person I was then complaining about a tardy reply!

When there was the changes to CE a few years back and I complained to BA, I wasn’t satisfied with the respose so wrote to WW. I wasn’t expecting a reply from him, but I did get a reply acknowledging the fact I had written to WW who apparently had asked this person to respond, but they were more senior than the person who had responded in the first place.

If every complaint went to the CEO/MD then there would be little point in having a section to deal with customer issues. It is really for the head of those departments to inform those at the top.

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