The Key to Profitable Airlines: User-Generated Content

As a member of the echo boomers generation, the financial struggles of the airline industry have been a constant fixture in my life. In fact, I barely remember Pan Am myself, and what I do remember involves terrorism, corporate missteps, and my father deciding to frame his “worthless” Pan Am stock certificates as souvenirs. My uncle has been an employee of one of the major airlines since the late seventies, and is constantly wondering if he’ll have a job at this time next year. The airlines can’t seem to keep themselves afloat in a business that is actually necessary to the nation’s — and world’s — economy. It seems to me that the answer to the airlines’ worries may lie in one of the precepts of the whole “web 2.0” movement — user-generated content.

The Real Value of UGC

Of course, I’m not suggesting that airlines set up social networks for users to rant and rave about their amazing travels on PodunkAir, complete with folksonomy, microformats, and a cool API — though that might be cool too. Instead, I mean looking to the users, those who are paying the money to make the trip, to bring into the flight something that makes the experience more enjoyable for everyone. By creating a culture where passengers do something small and enjoyable for themselves, which in turn creates a more interesting or valuable experience for everyone else on the flight, airlines could be able to charge more for this experience at almost no additional cost.

…airlines could be able to charge more for this improved experience at almost no additional cost.

Everyone who pays attention to the web these days knows that this is exactly what social networks do. They provide a way for users to not only do something they need/want to do, such as upload and catalogue their photos, and then add to it a social element that drives them to feel like they have invested themselves in the service — contributed to the community in some way. This is what creates devoted, passionate, and faithful users who are willing to pay a fair premium for a greater experience.

Airlines Used to Do This

It hasn’t been the case during my lifetime, but flying on an airline used to be an experience that people looked forward to. Seldom did a man not wear a jacket or sportcoat onto an airplane, and women dressed the part as well. Stepping onto an airplane was an experience much like going to a cocktail party, and people genuinely enjoyed the experience of being treated well by genuinely friendly flight attendants. Your vacation started the moment you stepped onto the plane.

These days, the vacation starts the moment you get off the plane at your final destination. You have to arrive two hours ahead of time, be treated poorly by TSA personnel who are very happy to have their power trip out on you, and then wait in a boring terminal to be herded like sheep onto a plane. Once on the plane, you are told what you may and may not do, you sit in seats with far too little legroom, are occasionally offered pretzels by fake and impersonal flight attendants, and cannot wait to land.

While some airlines with a singularity of focus on low-cost can accept these inconveniences, other airlines who can’t manage this focus on low cost need to instead accept that they will have higher prices, but improve the experience as inexpensively as possible. For this, we turn to real-life user-generated content.

Real-Life User-Generated Content … on an Airplane

Improving the experience does not mean upgrading the crackers, or even providing a meal instead of a snack. It means giving passengers the opportunity to participate in the flying experience and feeling an emotional investment in the process.

One thought I’ve had is to bring back the cocktail party feel, which represented so much of the luxury passengers paid for decades ago. Imagine a major airline that gave a free travel voucher to the best-dressed traveler on each flight. Passengers on this airline would show up to the airport looking their best, ready to impress and be impressed, and when passengers look great, they feel great too. At thirty minutes prior to boarding, passengers could vote for anyone besides themselves, and the voucher could be awarded on the plane a while later. Myriad other benefits could come from something like this — passengers would talk to each other from the start: “Just so you know, I voted for you. That’s a really great tie!”

Regardless of whether or not they actually win, customers would come away from the experience perhaps having met a few new people, looking good, and feel like they attended an event rather than went through an ordeal. It’s that kind of experience that keeps people coming back, and it’s that kind of experience that justifies paying $350 for a ticket instead of $250 or $275.

What other kinds of user-generated content could a non-internet business like an airline implement that would help them improve the experience without inflating their own costs? Would you pay a bit more for a better experience on a plane?

PS: Thanks to Dan Rubin for yelling at me to write a post about this…