An airline is responsible to its customer for the smooth running of the trip from end to end. But unfortunately the airline does not always have all the levers in its hands to ensure that everything goes smoothly, which is sometimes difficult for the customer to understand or accept. But this doesn’t have to be the case: some go to great lengths with their partners to improve the end-to-end experience.
The recent joint venture between Lufthansa and Fraport (Frankfurt Airport) is an opportunity to illustrate the subject by example.
Airlines and the customer experience: always responsible, not always guilty
From the passenger’s point of view, things are simple: he buys a ticket from an airline and it is in fact responsible for everything from A to Z. And he is right, at least in part.
The airline may have legal or just moral responsibility.
In terms of legal liability, it is legally responsible, for example, for lost and misplaced baggage under the Montreal Convention. And this even if it has no responsibility in what happens: it is the airports and the handlers who lose the bags, rarely the airlines. But they are ultimately responsible to the customer, provided they do not hide behind false motives.
On the other hand, sometimes the responsibility is moral. The airline is not bound to anything, it is not responsible for anything, but it is to it that the passenger will impute all the inconveniences undergone during his trip.
Ineffective security or police checks? Depending on the case, it is the airport, its service providers and the public authorities that are at fault.
Complicated ground course ? Poorly designed or maintained airport? It is the airport.
The airline can’t do anything about it, it suffers the failures of its service providers (the airport is a service provider of the airlines which are their customers) but for the passenger it’s an “Air Anything” flight which went wrong. Unfair but that’s how it is.
But to assume the posture of victim is a little too easy.
A very variable balance of power between the airlines and the airports
In everyday life, when you are not satisfied with a service provider, you call them to order or even replace them. In the world of travel it is a little more complicated: an airline not satisfied with an airport can hardly change it. And in the case of a city with several airports the management will often be the same. This limits the possibilities of negotiation but does not eliminate them.
Of course, when an airline only operates one or two flights in a given airport, far from its bases, it does not weigh much against the manager, which does not prevent it from asserting its grievances when it has them.
On the other hand, when it comes to its hub, it has the means to make an impact because it is often the largest customer and, in fact, out of simple common sense, it often collaborates with the airport, more or less intelligently.
Iberia in Madrid, ITA in Rome, Lufthansa in Frankfurt, Swiss in Zurich, Air France in Roissy…these airlines have a closer relationship with the airports concerned than with the other airlines using their hub, which is logical.
This should allow them to be heard.
I will mention the deplorable anecdote that happened to one of our readers at 2G in Roissy. Handicapped in her movements and undergoing treatment for a serious illness, she had requested assistance which never arrived.
The crew’s answer: “There’s nothing we can do about it, it’s Paris Airports“.
His answer was adequate: “it’s your provider, you just have to manage it“.
Unfortunately, she had to take the bus like everyone else, limping and managing with canes and suitcase, nobody even trying to find a solution. All this under the shocked looks of the passengers who had attended the scene.
I don’t know if the airport reluctantly provides assistance at 2G, but it is up to the airline to remind its partner of its obligation, especially if the problem is recurrent.
In the opinion of many passengers and connoisseurs of the sector Air France is not hard enough with Paris Airport. Maybe. But there are examples that prove that an airline can go very far with its hub manager
Lufthansa and Fraport
Lufthansa has therefore announced the creation of a joint venture with Frankfurt Airport (Fraport): Fralliance. A joint venture whose goal is to “improve aspects related to business development and operations, customer experience, infrastructure, intermodality and sustainability.“
In concrete terms, this will mean providing real-time data on waiting times at checkpoints in the Lufthansa application or working together on passenger flows to eliminate unnecessary checks and thus reduce journey times through the airport. To begin with.
A very good example of what should be the collaboration between an airline and the airport that hosts its hub: not a simple business relationship, not a collaboration as good and advanced as it is, but a joint venture in which both are involved with a common goalat the service of the customer.
For the passenger it is impossible to continue hearing “them” and “us”. Both are in the same boat and must learn to row together by taking responsibility together. The customer experience is not the sole responsibility of the airline or the airport: it is a global journey with different touch points, not all managed by the same people, but which requires collaboration between these people in order to be fluid.
Let’s take this opportunity to note something quite rare in the airline industry: Lufthansa is an 8% shareholder in Fraport. In terms of investments, such links with such a highly strategic partner are strangely rare if not unique in the industry. Maybe the best way to really make yourself heard by one’s provider?
Bottom line
Lufthansa and Fraport have just announced the creation of a joint venture. This is a reminder of how strong partnerships between airlines and airports, which go beyond mere collaboration, are essential for good customer excellence.
An initiative soon to be copied? Who knows!
Image : Fraport by gopixa via Shuttesrtock