Flying into a storm
by Paul Dunn in People+Organizations | 2 Comments | Add your comment

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Peter Cook is a great friend of mine — in fact I mentor him.

He runs some great businesses and has even been able to free himself up from them so that he can spend time ‘chilling’ in Bali.

Peter is based in Melbourne. So recently he flew to Bali using QANTAS frequent flyer points which meant he and his family were on a Jetstar flight.

Here’s an excerpt from Peter’s blog about what happened:

I think Jetstar have made a strategic decision to piss their customers off. Or at the very least to differentiate themselves on ticket price only, try to then squeeze every dollar they can out of their customers, and not care at all about how their customer’s feel.

There was a lady across the aisle from us who for $30 had pre-bought her dinner when she bought her ticket. She was somewhat less than pleased when she saw the person next to her buy the same meal for $12. She complained loudly, firstly to the flight steward serving the meal, and then to the head steward guy, to no avail. She even had to pay extra for the glass of wine that she had with her meal.

Now Jetstar made an extra $18 out of her than they otherwise would have. It’s an interesting strategy, and must be profitable or they wouldn’t do it.

However I think it’s short sighted, and they are sacrificing future sales for short-term profit.

I travel often and like most people I buy tickets based on price. I’m in Sydney a couple of times a month. And the experience hasn’t put me off Jetstar altogether … but I would now pay an extra $5 or $10 to fly Virgin or Qantas to know that they are not going to charge me if I’m 500 grams over the luggage limit, and they will let me on the plane if I get there 28 minutes before it leaves, and that they will make some effort to look after how I feel.

It is just staggering isn’t it?

You see un-empowered people and life gets challenging for them too. So in some ways it’s not their fault.

You can get some clues as to why this stuff happens by looking at Jetstar’s much-hyped (so-called) Service Guarantee. In a word, it’s awful.

I’ll show it to you in a moment but what is REALLY significant is that if you go to the Jetstar website right now, you won’t see the guarantee itself unless you search deeply. But what you will see is this in full view — the details on what happens if you happen to get a voucher from claiming on the guarantee.

It is one of the most un-friendly customer things I’ve seen in a while. It is mind-blowingly awful:

a) Your booking must be made within three months from the date your voucher is issued, for travel commenced and completed within 12 months from the date your voucher is issued.

b) Booking dates and travel dates will be strictly applied.

c) Jetstar will not extend the booking dates under any circumstances. Unless otherwise stated, airfares are non-refundable. Limited changes are permitted, charges apply. The standard JetSaver, JetFlex and StarClass fare conditions apply. See Jetstar.com for further details.

d) You must redeem this Voucher in one transaction only. Any amount not redeemed in that transaction will be forfeited. This voucher is not transferable – it is redeemable only by the person whose name is stated on the voucher for travel by that person.

e) This Voucher is only redeemable up to the value stated on the voucher for Jetstar fares, taxes, fees and other charges associated with normal Jetstar internet or telephone reservations bookings. This Voucher must be taken as stated and no compensation will be payable if the recipient is unable to use it as stated. This Voucher is not redeemable for cash or other goods and services. Please note that Jetstar vouchers are not refundable and are redeemable for flights only (i.e. accommodation and car hire cannot be purchased with this voucher).

f) All travel is subject to availability at the time of booking, the fares conditions quoted at the time of booking and the Jetstar Conditions of Carriage.

g) Any additional travel or land content booked in conjunction with the use of the Voucher will be subject to standard booking conditions.

Totally WOW huh?

Wouldn’t you just love to work there? NOT!

Which then leads us to that much-hyped Service Guarantee. Let’s look:

1. Your safety is our highest priority
2. We commit to provide the lowest fares with our ‘Price Beat Guarantee’
3. Our team are always here to help, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
4. We’ll let you know your choices if your flight is changed before you travel
5. We’ll keep you updated and provide options if things don’t go to plan on the day
6. You will get what you paid for
7. You can have confidence in how quickly we will respond to an issue
8. You can have confidence in how quickly we will refund your money
9. We share your passion for protecting our environment
10. We commit to the privacy of your personal information

The one I really like is number 6 — you’ll get what you pay for. Whatever happened to going beyond? What ever happened to neat surprises? What ever happened to WOW? What ever happened to being ‘delighted’ as opposed to ‘satisfied’?

These are more than just words — they’re culture.

Do this simple check — go to some the counters of some other low cost carriers like the Virgin counter or the Air Asia counter and check out the people and their attitude. Then do it at Jetstar. The difference is palpable.

And it comes from words. At Jetstar you’re a customer. At Virgin and at Air Asia, you’re referred to (and treated as) a guest.

So let’s flip back to ‘Start with Why’ author Simon Sinek again. You’ll recall in last month’s article that, as Simon Sinek puts it, ‘the goal is not to do business with people who might want or need your product, it’s to do business with people who believe what you believe’.

Or, from a hiring basis: ‘the goal is not to hire people who need a job, it is to hire people who believe what you believe in.’

So, what does Jetstar believe in? Apparently, it’s giving you what you pay for. Contrast that with India’s Kingfisher airline — to give you the best airline experience you’ve ever had.

Which leads to this question — what is it you (and your company) believe in? More on that next time we meet here.

ABOUT THE COLUMNIST

Paul Dunn is now known worldwide as the ‘Wizard of WOW’. He’s a best-selling author, a creator of successful international businesses and his audio and video programs are now in use by over 156,000 businesses around the world. He is passionate about giving back to Social Causes to increase the level of joy in our world. He serves as Chairman of the revolutionary Buy1GIVE1 (www.b1g1.com). He gets up every morning to, as he puts it, ‘give businesses the power to change our lives.’

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