Posted on 11/17/2018 11:38:41 AM PST by Simon Green
Individual passengers may like to think that they are more than numbers to the airlines they patronize, but it turns out that this may not be the case, The Economist reports.
As with many other businesses, carriers give individuals a “customer lifetime value” or CLV score. This metric is used to essentially predict how profitable a customer could be to an operator throughout the length of an individual’s relationship with a particular company.
Airlines and carriers then utilize these scores to help inform their future interactions with their customers.
“When it comes to flying, a CLV score takes into account information such as how frequently a customer makes complaints and how often they are affected by flight delays and lost luggage. Companies do not perceive much value in retaining the business of customers who complain all the time, so regular whiners get bad scores,” it explains.
“Conversely, frequent flyers in business class who rarely moan get some of the best. Sometimes these scores are transmitted to flight attendants, many of whom are now issued with handheld digital devices on which they can read about passengers. Cabin crew can use this information to wish flyers a happy birthday or decide whether they are worth compensating for inconveniences such as a spilled coffee or broken screens,” the outlet adds.
There is, however, a flip-side to these CLV scores that goes well beyond projected profits and potential loss. To some passengers – as well as some carriers – there are concerns over the monitoring, collection and sharing of personal data.
Offering his comments on the use of CLV scores for good or bad, John Slater, senior vice president of inflight services at United Airlines, told The Wall Street Journal, “There’s a point where you don’t want to make people feel like, ‘Gee they know everything about me and they’re tracking everything I do’”.
I’ve gone from modestly profitable for them to “He don’t fly no more.”
Yep, I have 900,000 on united and I am not likely to make a million. They tick me off every time I fly them. I might have 500,000 on American. They are better, but not by much. I tend to fly the airline that is more convenient now. Or i drive if its possible. The airport is a place where you feel you have no rights anymore. So its best to stay away when possible.
We used to fly because we wanted to fly.
Now, we fly because we have to fly to save time.
In our youth, vacation began when we got to the airport.
Now, the airport, and flight, are things to be endured until we reach our vacation destination.
Thankfully, I never had to travel too much for my employer.
I do all that I can to fly on non-US airlines, particularly regarding Asia trips (for obvious reasons).
Countdown to the lawsuit forcing airlines to reveal your CLV score in 5... 4... 3... 2...
LOL. Me too. Flying seems like a psychological testing format to measure the willingness of Americans to be harassed to accept indoctrinated, degraded, subjected, humiliated, goes along way toward reminding me of what it was like to board the trains to nowhere, in Germany.
Silly, I know...
Airlines are now the a clone of the long haul cattle truck, for people. Guaranteed that you have no more room than cattle have, while packed inside the long haul.
Participating in that mode of operation ended at our house, as well, quite some time ago. The experience was too un-American for us. We drive, or we don’t go.
I love the entire experience of flying. I try to get to the airport at least three hours before my flight time so that I can go to an airport bar (with my Kindle) and have a burger with a couple of tall ones. An hour before flight time, I'm at the gate with my Kindle making sure my bladder is empty before boarding because I don't want to disrupt the other passengers by getting up mid-flight to use the lavs (I prefer a window seat).
If I have some extra time, I like to walk through the terminals and people watch. Sometimes they have some interesting things in the terminal lobby to look at like those cages with the balls constantly falling to the bottom and rising back up again like some perpetual motion machine.
I get a lot of reading done prior to flight and during the flight. I like the snacks that the stewardesses hand out and I never give them a hard time, ever. I also check my luggage so I'm never one of those jerks trying to stuff a big bag in the overheads. I have respect for my fellow passengers and my stewardesses. Sometimes the stewardesses are men but that's cool. I don't judge.
I like it when the pilots make random announcements like "we are 30 miles west of Kansas City and two hours out from Palm Springs where it is a balmy 74 degrees." I like knowing where I currently am at and what the temperature is where I'm going.
Landing is always the best part. I like to look out the window as objects get closer and closer. Suddenly, just when I think I'm going to crash into a shopping mall parking lot, the runway magically appears below me. Those pilots really know what they are doing but they like to scare me once in a while.
When the plane finally comes up to the gate, I'm not anxious to get off the plane like some of my fellow passengers. I just sit calmly in my seat, reading my Kindle and I wait patiently for all those "in a rush" to extract their oversized bags from the overhead and jam the aisles looking to get off the plane first. I don't care about being among the first to get off the plane. I'm quite content to be among the last.
When it is finally time to leave the plane, I am cheerful to the crew as I depart the plane and I take my sweet time getting to the baggage claim in which I encounter my fellow passengers who were for some reason in such a rush to get off the plane. As I wait patiently for my luggage to tumble into the carousel, I push the button on my iPhone to bring the Uber over. I grab my luggage and walk on outside to grab my Uber. Life is good and it's almost totally stress free.
I appreciate your post, and I totally enjoy the entire experience of flying for the same reasons you stated. At one point I flew so often that I had my favorite airports. When I booked flights, I booked the ones that utilized my favorite airports. Each of the airports contained places that I liked to frequent, and I knew where they were located.
Now, I can’t manage to walk those long distances, and I have to have help getting from point A-B, but I still love to fly. I love the takeoffs. It’s fun to feel the speed of the plane before it finally lifts off the ground.
I too like the window seat because I like to guess where we are based on the topography.
There have been a few mishaps through the years like missing luggage so I always carry a bag with meds, clean undies, and pajamas just in case.
I don’t mind being located toward the rear of the plane because it’s so noisy that I can’t hear crying babies, or droning conversations if for some reason I need to nap.
Onetime, the airline messed up causing a three hour delay. We were in Minneapolis so the desk gave us (my little granddaughter and I) free bus passes to the Mall of America as well as a voucher for a free lunch. Therefore, a misshapen became a most memorable occasion when we spent the entire visit to the mall at the indoor carnival rides.
Yep, I do love to fly. Attitude makes a world of difference.
And get this! A few weeks ago my daughter bought me a ticket to where she lives for $25! It was a nonstop flight..only 70 minutes long. It would have taken me 9-10 hours to drive one way depending on road construction, and at 4 times the cost of the plane ticket.
Just a couple days ago, a snowstorm hit my area and it took me 5 1/2 hours to get home. All the next day, I listened to angry people complain about their miserable commute and how horrible it was. To me, it was a surreal and memorable experience. The highways were not moving so I went off the highway and took to the backroads. It was dark and the roads were slick but I had good tires and all-wheel drive so I wasn't worried. I put on some Christmas music and took it slow the whole way. If somebody got up behind me flashing their high beams, I found a spot to pull over to let them by. (Some of them probably ended up in a ditch.)
As I got closer to my house, there were wrecks and the police had roads closed, forcing me to detour several times. Eventually I got on some really remote back roads but roads that I knew pretty well so the last few miles to my house were rather magical, with the snow flying and the car slowly and surely making it up and down the unplowed hills as I listened to Christmas music.
It was definitely a night to remember, probably like the day you ended up unexpectedly at the Mall of America!
Getting back to air travel and the tendency for people to complain about it all the time, it really is a marvel when you think about it. Once of the things I do once in a while is park near an airport and just watch the planes takeoff and land. It is still amazing to me that such huge machines can so gracefully take to the sky and land on a narrow strip of runway with such precision in nearly all kinds of weather.
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