Categories: Articles

Marketing An Airplane

I woke up at 3:30 am to make an Air Canada flight to Toronto that was supposed to leave at 5:30 am. I did one thing differently than my normal schedule – I left my laptop on over night so I could review my emails on the flight. I also signed up for notification if the flight changes (I do like that functionality from the Air Canada website).
At 3:30 am I see an email that was sent around midnight that my flight was cancelled. No more info. I managed to get on a 6 am flight – but I could have used the extra zzz’s. I also would have liked a phone number or some call-to-action other than the word “cancelled.”
People who work in this industry – especially up here in Canada – are miserable. Their jobs obviously suck and they have little to no interest in customizing or making the experience better.
How hard would it be to:
– Have a power outlet at every seat so you don’t suck laptop battery juice?
– Let you use your mobile devices. Reports show that they don’t interrupt with anything.
– Seeing as I am part of their Aeroplan loyalty program, why not have notes that I am nearly 6 foot 2 and have recently had knee surgery – it’s a simple and easy task to do – select the type of seat for me instead of me always having to explain the situation.
– Make sure those headphones actually work and don’t fritz out every minute.
– Smile… It’s free. Trust me, nobody is happy to be here at 4 am.
– There are more but I am tired.
It’s always the small stuff. The secret is that it’s the easiest and cheapest to fix and it will turn me into a raving fan. Small stuff that few companies do. But when they make that small stuff count – all of a sudden we have new leaders of industry.
Off to see what Toronto offers today (besides rain and fog).

Mitch Joel

Mitch Joel lives at the intersection of technology, business transformation and consumer culture. He is the Executive Director of Next Era Institute, a strategic intelligence platform helping leaders understand the forces reshaping business, technology, culture and society. The Institute identifies which shifts matter, explores their wider significance and translates them into strategic direction and momentum. Mitch is also a globally recognized keynote speaker. He has delivered thousands of presentations across both B2B and B2C industries to organizations including Google, Walmart, LEGO, Shopify, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble and Unilever. Strategy Magazine has called him “one of North America’s leading visionaries.” Mitch built his career by working directly inside the waves of change that reshaped modern business. He founded and built a digital marketing agency that worked with some of the world’s largest brands and was later acquired by WPP, where he served as President of a firm operating in 25 countries with almost 3,000 employees. Mitch is the bestselling author of Six Pixels of Separation and CTRL ALT Delete, and the host of Thinking With Mitch Joel, one of the longest-running business podcasts in the world. His writing and commentary appear in outlets including Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine. He is a member of Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches and was named to the Thinkers50 Radar. Mitch also hosts Groove – The No Treble Podcast, documenting the oral history of electric bass players. Mitch is also Co-Founder of ThinkersOne, a platform that enables companies to bring personalized thought leadership from world-class experts into meetings, events and off-sites in focused 15-minute bursts.