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The story of Ryanair's customers left stranded on the tarmac without refreshments, is quite incredible, but it's nothing we've haven't heard of before or perhaps experienced a little bit ourselves here in the US.

"Strathclyde police were called to the Ryanair flight at Prestwick airport in Ayrshire yesterday after the plane was held on the runway due to delays caused by an air traffic controllers strike in France.

The flight, to Girona in Spain, had been due to leave at 2pm but by 6pm the flight's besieged crew called the police.

The 168 passengers, many with children, became increasingly angry after the crew refused to open the refreshment trolleys, saying they were forbidden from doing so until the flight was in the air. Others wanted to get off the plane."

However, the fact it's Ryanair makes it especially interesting because this is a brand that's taken no frills to an absolute extreme. The company is planning on charging passengers to use the rest room and is well known for charging customers extra for everything. This is a core part of the branding strategy.

If your prepared to go to extreme lengths to deliver the lowest possible fares and if your business is always trying to find any ways to make extra revenue by charging for the things your competitors probably give away as standard, you might just have a very distorted view of your customers.

Brands have always been used as signs and signals of standards and supposedly quality. Ryanair appears to have taken a post-post modern view of branding and inverted it on its ahead. Maybe the company believes that its customers are paying such low prices, that they have no right to expect any level of service.

The company seems to revel in the buzz can be generated for their crazy schemes to deliver the lowest prices.

A Test for Standing Passenger Flights



The problem is that the airline business is not static and revolves around a highly aggressive set of competitors who are determined to get business at all costs. Unless Ryanair has a pricing model that's so far below any of its competitors, it better watch out, because the mutiny it experienced in Prestwick, might spread to other passengers.

No frills has been a territory circulated by many brands, especially in these tough times, but there have to limits to what consumers are prepared to expect service wise, despite the fearsome attraction of low prices.

I guess Ryanair is engaged in an interesting experiment to test those limits.

Posted by Ed Cotton An amazing example of a brand using data to create an experience. In this case it's Lufthansa in its brand academy in Frankfurt.



Posted by Ed Cotton Westin has done a formidable job in branding the key elements of the hotel experience.

Now it's getting into bed with United Airlines to extend their branding elements into the air and airport.

- Westin Heavenly Bed products will be available to passengers on United's ps service

- Media experiences including music and soothing nature videos

- Westin food and beverage program- from WestinSuperFoods and White Tea heavenly experience in the sky

- Westin Renewal Lounges are already located within United’s Red Carpet Clubs to give travelers a soothing hideaway for relaxing and renewing

This looks like an incredible paid-for media deal. United, strapped for cash has gone and sold space to the highest bidder, or perhaps Westin came to United with a plan.

It's clearly a very smart play for Westin to secure this valuable media property and reach its core target in a new and interesting way.

It's safe to assume that with all US airlines searching for additional funds, similar types of deals will be available across the sky and present ad agencies and media companies with new opportunities to take advantage of.


Posted by Ed Cotton JD Power's ratings for airlines are out and surprise, surprise, customer satisfaction is down. It suggests airlines invest in people, but with a 72% increase in jet fuel price and the inability to pass this on to consumers, where does the money come from.

"Across the airline experience, from check-in, to the flight, to deplaning, passengers are being affected by the ramifications of carriers making staff cutbacks and have expressed that performance and attitudes of airline staff are suffering. In this unstable industry environment, it is critical that airlines invest in their employees as a means to enhance the customer experience, as there is a strong connection between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Those airlines that focus on keeping their employees informed and motivated will be better able to change negative consumer sentiment and truly differentiate themselves."


Sam Thanawalla, Director of the global
Hospitality and Travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates.

Posted by Ed Cotton

For an industry that's already skating on wafer-thin margins, a 72% annual increase in fuel costs has sent the business reeling. It's almost impossible to plan for an increase like that and certainly no way this can be passed directly on to consumers in the form of fare increases.

The future for consumers looks tough with airlines taking more planes out of service leading to overcrowding and fare increases many business travelers will be asking themselves is they really need to travel. The video conferencing industry, so long talked about as a viable alternative, may at last see the boost it has been promised for so long.

This quote is from the Business Travel News 2008 survey.

"The Air Transport Association last month projected the domestic industry's fuel bill this year will be 72 percent higher this year than in 2007, while JP Morgan's Baker last month projected the cost of fuel to bleed industry profits dry in the next two years, forecasting a "an all-time record" $7.2 billion operating loss this year and a 2009 operating loss of $8.1 billion.

"Certain more modest forecasts are difficult to reconcile absent heroic fuel declines or unprecedented demand growth," Baker said. "A war of attrition appears to be underway. One belief is that airlines will act collectively to massively reduce capacity, leading to near-record fare improvement, but management may instead engage in value destructive behavior as they attempt to merely outlast one another—after all, capacity cuts thus far fall meaningfully short of what we and most executives deem necessary. At current fuel prices, legacy bankruptcies and/or merge-at-all-cost attempts are a question of when, not if."

Rising costs may have one positive effect, reducing the carbon footprint.


Posted by Ed Cotton After a summer from hell in the US, where air travelers got to experience a system strained to the max.

From June 1 to Aug. 15, U.S. carriers canceled more than 30,000 domestic and international flights to the USA's top 30 airports, up from 16,000 last summer, according to a FlightStats analysis for USA TODAY. FlightStats' data show the proportion of flights arriving at least 45 minutes late jumped to 13.4% this summer, up from about 11.2% last summer. FlightStats tracks flights worldwide.

From USA Today- September 9th, 2007

It’s clear that air travel isn’t what it used to be.



Sadly, for Americans there’s very little they can do about it, for shorter journeys, it might be worth looking into bus or train alternatives, but for all kinds of reasons many of us still have to fly.

Over in Europe, things are changing and the rapid train system called Eurostar, which links the UK to Europe via the Channel Tunnel. The network has just undergone a 2.0 upgrade. For years, the UK rail system wasn’t able to allow the high-speed trains on the Eurostar network to go high speed, now that has all changed and it's now safe to travel at 186mph.

With some belated engineering fixes, the UK is ready to go high speed to Europe, which means train travel times to Paris, and Brussels easily beat out the equivalent air routes.

Finally, to put the icing on the cake, London’s famous gothic icon, St Pancras station has undergone a massive revamp turning it into a C21st architectural gem.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

It’s not surprising that Eurostar now gloats in its TV advertising that promotes its new faster service,with the poor "whipping boy", none other than air travel.



Posted by Ed Cotton