AA's Top Customers Log in to "Air" Opinions
By Mick Doherty
Corporate Communications

Like many e-mailed suggestions that come to Corporate Communications, this one started with an introduction.
My name is 777Brit and I'm a moderator in the American Airlines forum at the world's most popular online frequent flier BBS site, flyertalk.com. One of our contributors recently started a thread, entitled ...
OK, wait. BBS? Thread? Forum? Moderator?

What?

Online tools such as the Web and e-mail have changed the face of business communications over the past decade. Hey, as recently as two years ago, you wouldn't have been reading this story on Jetnet, which did not yet exist. Nonetheless, many of the most common tools remain a bit of a mystery to casual Internet users.

One such tool is the BBS, or Bulletin Board System. Now, you hear "bulletin board" and you probably immediately think of the cork-and-pushpin setup in the local break room. If that's the case - good. It is exactly that, except it's online, so pushpins are a bad idea.

Public Service Announcement: What is a BBS?
Let's turn that question over to Stephen B. Henry, SysOp (that's another one of those techie terms, short for "Systems Operator") of the Ambassador Board network of BBS systems.

"The first BBS was hosted on a small computer and was simply an electronic version of the bulletin board you often see in small convenience shops or grocery stores," said Henry. "A place to post simple messages. It was a useful way for many people, remote from each other, to leave messages for each other."

Often, a BBS will be broken up into "forums" (general topics of interest) which in turn play host to various "threads" (specific topics of the day within the forum's general topic). For instance, on the FlyerTalk BBS, the American Airlines forum has hosted recent threads including topics ranging from "AA International 767 Service" to "Question About AA Parking at JFK."

Most forums have moderators like 777Brit to keep an eye on the postings, while each BBS may have slightly different rules about who is allowed to post messages.

The first BBS dates back a quarter of a century to 1978, pre-dating the Web by 15 years and AOL by nearly a decade. Want to read more about the history and technology of the BBS? Okay, no problem. Otherwise ...

Now, Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Feature
The e-mail from 777Brit pointed out another recent thread that began with a question posted by a two-year veteran of FlyerTalk who is also an AA Platinum customer:

Please post the reasons you still fly AA.

"I'm an ex-AA'er," said 777Brit, "still proud of American and proud to be associated with AA. These comments are coming from American's own frequent fliers, and most importantly, their elite Executive Platinum and Platinum customers."

Those elite customers can still identify plenty of items that differentiate AA from the competition.

A number of contributors to this thread specifically named the "great employees" and "proactive customer service" as a key reason they continue to fly AA. One even tagged it "Good Service AAtitudes in general."

Many were more specific, such as the Platinum customer who gushed, "AA employees, specifically the TPA check-in desk, TPA GAs and TPA-DFW crews. That does not mean that the rest [are] not up to par, it's just that I deal with these folks a great deal more, but I also had GreAAt service in ORD, SEA, LGW, YVR ... the Platinum desk has been wonderful. ThAAnks AA!"

"AA has some of the best employees in the business," wrote another, "Good food, good service and a pretty generous redemption program." But it's not just the Platinum customers with glowing reviews; one poster stressed that AA has ""Excellent Customer Service even for those of us who are not elites."

While contributors also named dozens of specific products such as powerports, as well as the breadth of destinations in the AA network, others admitted other reasons for their partisan opinions. "I like the name "American" when I fly," wrote one; another added "[I'm] proud to fly an airline named for the place I was born/raised/live/work/play."

There are literally millions of individual comments in thousands of online forums dedicated to the airline industry. Additional stories highlighting some of the common themes - yes, the bad as well as the good - will occasionally be published here on Jetnet.

Which Way is That Wind Blowing?
We'll also examine some of the business uses of public BBS postings; for instance, did you know that the Product Planning group at AA.com has made use of 777Brit's flyertalk forum, albeit indirectly, to gather feedback?

Kyle Kramer, who works in that AA.com Product Planning group, identified FlyerTalk as "an interesting place to check which way the wind is blowing, so to speak" with respect to the AA.com Web site. "They are quick to respond to changes we make to the site - both good and bad," said Kramer.

"These people seem to know the airline system inside and out," Kramer added. "The people who post to FlyerTalk are loyal, critical, opinionated customers who often seem to know as much about our business as we do."

Recently, for instance, Kramer conducted an online usability survey to capture feedback regarding some preliminary design ideas being proposed for AA.com.

"My mail list captured some of the FlyerTalk folks," said Kramer. "To make a long story short, screenshots were on FlyerTalk within hours of the launch of the survey, along with a corresponding thread of the pros and cons of our proposed changes."

The feedback was not out of line with expectations, said Kramer, "and it provided good supporting evidence for what we were trying to determine."

In the particular case pointed out by 777Brit, though, it's just nice to remind ourselves that customers do appreciate what AA has to offer ? and that includes "Good Service AAtitudes."

Know of a good BBS? Seen a particularly interesting thread recently? Let us know.

[Edited to remove MY real name! - 777Brit]

[This message has been edited by 777Brit (edited 09-02-2003).]