I’ll admit it. This blog entry is going to have a lot of frequent flyer info in it. Trust me, there will be a point to it even if you aren’t on a plane that often. Just walk with me… or perhaps I should say “fly” with me…
I travel a lot. It’s the nature of my work. Last year, I took just under 150 flights. That’s 150 takeoffs and 150 landings. I hit 1K on United and I’ve easily been an A-List member on Southwest for years. While the travel can get a bit exhausting, I enjoy the perks of being an “elite” member of these frequent flyer programs. I wait in shorter lines, I never pay for bags, and I earn a bunch of free tickets that I share with family and friends or redeem for a fun vacation for me.
I’ll also admit that I spend more time than I should reading up on the frequent flyer programs and calculating what I can do with my free tickets in the following year.
So I was really surprised when I woke up last Thursday with an email from Southwest describing their “All New Rapid Rewards.” If you’re unfamiliar with the “old” Rapid Rewards, it was perhaps the most simple award frequent flyer program out there. Fly 16 times in a two years and you get a free ticket to anywhere Southwest flies. Yes, there were some flights that filled up, but for the most part you could redeem it. It was easy. It was simple. It was a regular winner of the best frequent flyer program out there. To be honest, it was the major reason I still flew Southwest after I earned a higher status on United.
And then came the “new” program. Southwest touted the “no blackout dates,” “no point expiration,” and “every seat is an award seat,” but I noticed other factors.
1) Flights didn’t matter as much anymore. What really mattered? How much you spent.
2) The style of ticket mattered much more, multiplying the points per dollar by 6, 10, or 12 points.
3) It was incredibly complex. Redemptions were also based on dollar amount and a factor of 60, 100, or 120 points per dollar.
If you’re confused, you’re not alone. You literally need a calculator to figure out if and when you earn an award ticket and even then it depends on whether or not the ticket is in your price range.
Immediately there was backlash. The Southwest Facebook page quickly filled up with angry complaints from patrons in Rapid Rewards so much so that Southwest began deleting negative posts earlier this week. A blog response from Southwest about the program also featured several negative complaints. Eventually, some media organizations began to cover the backlash.
The basic complaints:
1) Southwest has changed their egalitarian model by developing three tiers of service.
2) It takes longer to earn a flight
3) The new program “penalizes” short haul fliers
4) Southwest’s response to these concerns has been patronizing at best
Before I go any further, I must be fair to Southwest. They still do not charge for bags or change fees. I find their actual flight staff to be some of the friendliest in the business. I respect their need to make money. They have run one of the most generous frequent flyer programs out there. They are trying to recruit the business traveler and increase their revenue. I can’t fault them for that, but it’s their implementation of these changes that has been awful. Some WILL benefit from the new program. If you’re a business traveler who spends MORE on a ticket, you can earn free flights significantly faster.
I don’t fall into that category, and there are several other Southwest frequent flyers just like me who are quite upset.
While I could understand if Southwest had to increase the number of flights for a free ticket, I found the direct connection to dollar amount and the poor customer communication outlying the program to be upsetting.
I have elite status on United, but it isn’t based on the money I spent, it’s based on how much I flew. Southwest demonstrated that my financial relationship with them was more important than my loyalty toward their airline.
When I voiced my concerns with the program, I got the same generic reply that Southwest continues to give out, “Just use the calculator and you’ll see how great the program is.”
I did the math and the program is SIGNIFICANTLY worse for me. I won’t get anywhere near as many award tickets based on the way I travel. Southwest failed to acknowledge these concerns and instead to treat its customers as if they simply didn’t know how to do math. Southwest, known for making each customer feel special, began to feel a lot more like every other airline, not recognizing customer concerns. On the official Southwest blog, Brian Lusk replied to any positive question about the new program, but continued to fail to acknowledge or address the setbacks or drawbacks many had voiced.
Several customers said if Southwest simply said, “We are a business and we need to increase our bottom line. As upsetting as it is, we need to increase the amount each passenger needs to spend in order to earn an award ticket,” it still would have been disappointing, but it would have felt honest. It would have felt like Southwest. Instead, Southwest continued to state, “you’ll love the new program” when it was obvious that many did not.
This past week, as I mentioned earlier, Southwest began to delete opposition to the program on their facebook page, and continued to tout how much their flyers have been ASKING for this new program (a common complaint on the page: “when did you ask us if we actually wanted this?”). Many are comparing the shift to New Coke and highlighting the poor customer relations on Southwest’s part.
And that’s what brings us to our leadership lesson…
Southwest had one of the most LOYAL customer base out of any airlines. Their passengers regularly raved about the Southwest experience. The company has remained profitable while most of the industry has struggled. Still Southwest felt the need to recruit the coveted BUSINESS TRAVELER who tends to spend more on a ticket. The new Rapid Rewards program may to do exactly that, but the question becomes, “at what expense?”
While Southwest may increase their income, they’ve hurt–at least in the immediate future–their reputation. They were know for being different, for treating each customer the same, for keeping things simple, and for keeping things fun and honest. Now, many of their loyal fans now say “they are just like the other guys.” Southwest, in an attempt to reach one goal, sacrificed so many of the things that kept them profoundly unique and made them special.
Not only that, but then they failed to listen and at least acknowledge the concerns of a customer base that truly felt betrayed. Instead, they simply said, “it’s better” when most of their customers could plainly see, it was not–at least for them.
I’ve seen this happen to other groups who have tried to hit the same level as another organization and lose the core of what makes them unique in the process. They fold and fail. I don’t think this will necessarily be the case for Southwest, but I have trouble believing they will be able to maintain such a loyal following.
As leaders, we do need to evolve. We do need to make changes, but we also need to ask if those changes sacrifice who we are at a core, and if they truly benefit those that we serve. Southwest had built a reputation by being an airline with affordable tickets, and yet in their press release, the CEO of the company was quoted saying that he thinks the new program will get people to pay more money for tickets
Have you ever done the same thing in your organization? I’ve seen some schools spend so much money on making a prom “so amazing” (because they heard what another school did) that the price of a ticket exceeds the amount that many students can pay, ultimately hurting attendance and changing the prom experience.
I’ve seen other schools complain about student apathy at events, but fail to really listen to the feedback from their peers, dismissing any critique as someone “who just doesn’t get it.”
I’m interested to see what happens with the Southwest situation in the coming weeks. I won’t say I will never fly with them again, but I’ll be honest and say that if the new program remains unchanged, they will lose a great deal of my business as it works in my favor to fly another airline now.
As we lead, as we serve, we must remember that there is never a guarantee that anyone will work with us or attend what we plan. We must all have customer service in the forefront of our minds. We must find the ways to benefit our constituents. We won’t always make everyone happy, but we must also find the ways to be real with them when we’ve upset them. It builds a better relationship in the long run. It builds loyalty. It builds advocates.
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