An idea... #AirlineCEOChallenge
 

Disclaimer: this is a shameless attempt to get something to take off on social media. If you're annoyed by that kind of thing, stop reading now and please accept my apologies for wasting your time. I hope this isn't in violation of any forum rules, I don't think it is, but I don't want to get on people's nerves.

Okay, so that said... After yet another disappointing flight as an elite passenger (AA EXP) I've come to the conclusion that the executive management teams at the major airlines (at least the US carriers) have lost touch with what their most valued customers go through on a weekly basis. So, I came up with the idea of the Airline CEO Challenge. Put simply, I'm challenging the CEOs of the major US carriers (United, Delta, and American) to earn top tier elite status on their airline during 2016. I think if they can make a commitment to experiencing their product the way we do, they will have a clearer understanding of where they're doing well and where they stand to improve.

I've started what I hope will become a Twitter "campaign" with the hashtag #AirlineCEOChallenge, casting the gauntlet at the feet of each of the three CEOs. So far only American has replied in any way (not a serious reply, of course), but I think if enough people are interested in seeing this happen we can get them to sit up and take notice.

So if you're on board and think this would be really cool to see, then please join me. Search twitter for the #AirlineCEOChallenge hashtag and retweet my challenge to the three CEOs, or add your own message with the same hashtag.

I've taken a minute to put together a first draft of some rules for the challenge, in case one or more of these guys chooses to accept. If anyone has suggestions for changes/additions, please chime in! :)

#AirlineCEOChallenge Rules
1. You must book discount economy fare, just like most of your business travelers are required to do
2. You get a budget of $500 for the year to spend on seat upgrades (e.g. Main Cabin Extra / Economy Plus / etc) and checked bag fees, after that you have to earn them with your status
3. You must travel with a laptop bag or briefcase and a rolling, carry-on size bag. It’s your choice whether you check or stow overhead, but you have to follow your airline’s rules in that regard, including things like paying bag fees
4. At least 50% of the flights must depart from a hub city on a Monday morning or return to a hub city on a Thursday evening
5. Domestic flights only, no “mileage runs”
6. You’re only allowed to upgrade to F when you’ve earned it!
7. No special recognition or accommodation at the airport, GA’s, FA’s, Pilots, etc. should not know who you are or offer any kind of preferential treatment
8. Share your itineraries (after the fact, of course) on Twitter, Facebook, corporate page, etc. Include pictures if practical!
9. You must earn top-tier status (Executive Platinum, 1K, Diamond) by the end of 2016 according to your airline's rules

That's an excellent idea,could even be an undercover boss idea!

Very US-centric once again. Especially the domestic only rule. Outside the US it'd be almost impossible to earn status with only domestic flights except by number of segments perhaps.

#7 will be impossible.

An idea... #AirlineCEOChallenge
 

I might drop #4. Business travelers fly on various days of the week. Plus the feasibility of that is suspect.

I might replace it with a requirement that at least a third of their flights must be scheduled more than 60 or 90 days out so that they get the full schedule change experience.

And maybe also require one flight that we get to pick. So we can pick what they are bad at - so they can see that even when the operations folks know things will go wrong it still sucks to be a customer. The full IRROPS experience. Like ATL in a late summer thunderstorm. Or Chicago in an ice storm.

Why would they care? I'm not sure what your point is??? :confused:

No CEO is going to waste time doing something like this for a year. This is a dumb idea.

It would make a good reality TV show but I highly doubt any of them would spend a whole year doing this for no real benefit.

Let's also require them to fly all RJs and other commuter aircraft associated with their airline as well as all of their commuter flight operators. Bonus credit if they schedule such flights to/from NYC during blizzards.

TSA special line use is to also be based on earned status. In particular, no use of employee badges to bypass TSA security at the airport. Bonus credit for flying from MSP during the current TSA mess.

I would completely disagree that they've lost touch. They know exactly what's going on. Airline executives do not care about their customers' comfort. They care about how much revenue they generate, and nothing more. Moreover, frequent flyers are not valued customers. They are a PITA. This is self-evident from the way they are treated these days. They make up such a small subset of the whole customer base that they really don't have a significant impact on the total revenue. Again, the degradation of the FF programs over the last 5-10 years is ample evidence of how the airlines regard supposedly elite customers from whom they supposedly seek loyalty.

The reality is that airline executives would dearly love to get rid of the frequent flyer programs, and dearly wish they had never started in the first place. They were conceived with the best of intentions, but the current state of affairs shows that they created a monster. They are horrendously expensive, a huge administrative burden, a major liability on the balance sheet, and they aren't accomplishing the objective, which is to increase revenue, not to build customer loyalty. The problem is that now that all airlines are doing it in one form or another, none of them have the ....s to be the first one to get rid of it. They don't trust the other guys to follow suit.

And I'm betting you've lost touch with who the most valuable customers are. The airlines do a pretty good job of dealing with the HVFs. Those may not be the most frequent customers, but if you're constantly booking discount economy fares you're not the best customer, no matter how much time you spend on the plane.

Beyond that, the CEOs have jobs to do; screwing around with this all year would take time away from them actually doing that job. How is that good for anyone?

Indeed. The airlines' best customers are those that regularly book long-haul business class, usually in the form of corporate agreements. The occasional F flyers, or those who book 100 deep discount economy fares per year, are simple SLF (self-loading freight) as far as the CEO is concerned.

When I worked for hotels, our "best customers" were actually people that never spent a single night in our hotel. They were the people that negotiated the corporate contracts that provided the bulk of our revenue. The most a single guest could provide is 365 (or 366) room nights each year. Yet, the person who controls a corporate contract provided thousands (or even tens of thousands) of rooms nights.

I've never worked at an airline. Still, I'd imagine that they'd have a similar mindset.

It's an excellent point, and you're completely right. Big travel managers are very valuable to the airlines/hotels.

Nice idea for a tv show since egalitarian rage is so popular these days.

You are however assuming that frequent economy travelers who upgrade are someone their best customers though.