The Journey

I flew from Vancouver to Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines today. The plane was old. The seats were shabby and the crew did the minimum that was required to be considered "service." All in all it was a great flight.

I'm not being sarcastic.  It was a great flight. And the reason was because of the captain.

Once we were up in the air, he came on and started telling us what we could see out the windows.  "On the left side of the plane," he said, "you'll get a great view of Mt. Rainier."  Then he went on to tell us a bit about Mt. Rainier.  About 30 minutes later the captain came on again.  This time telling us about the Oregon River.  Later he told us about some lake that formed from a crater.  Each time he pointed things out, he would tell us a little something about it.  It was wonderful.

The plane was still old.  The seats were still shabby. The food was still bland, but the experience was really enjoyable. He transformed the experience of taking the bus, which is what air travel has become today, into a tour across the country.

I know it’s not an Alaska Airlines “thing,” it was just one chatty captain. But I hope airlines see the value of creating an experience and adopt this and other ways to enhance the time we spend on the plane.

It's not just airlines that can learn from this, it's anyone who serves someone they would call a customer or a client.  What matters more than all the stuff we throw at our customers is the journey we take them on to get that stuff. 

We expect a coffee shop to sell us coffee, for example. We take them from A to B, but it’s what happens on the way from A to B that matters more to creating loyalty.  We can get product B from any number of companies – but it's the journey that different companies take you on that makes the difference. You come into the coffee shop only wanting coffee, just like I took the flight just to get to where I needed to go.  But how the employee (and hopefully the company), decided to get me there made me want more.  The best part is, I completely ignored the shabby seats and old plane after that.

Take people on a memorable journey, and they won't notice the mistakes you make or the things you get wrong.  Ignore the journey and all they will notice is the mistakes you make and the things you get wrong.

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Comments

[freelance writers]

Look at this puppy) it is so funny)

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It's a touching story and especially wonderfully written and presented.

[Buy Maxocum]

Very nice story indeed.

[lenny97]

Hi all,

maybe this idea the dutch airline KLM is trying fits to Simon's experience..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwnyAudIyzs

[lurban]

I love your point -- but I hate when pilots do this. It is so rare that I can actually hear what they are saying, just the mwa-mwa-mwa of Charlie Brown's teacher. I'd rather pass the flight in quiet, honestly.

I just want to get from here to there without delays.

[Trinidad Pena]

This is a great post. It really is all about the journey. Thanks for the reminder.

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[Kellycrew.wordpress.com]

Simon, I really enjoyed this post. When I managed IT support folks I used to tell them all the time...listen to the end-user,they are upset and nervous all their data is gone. Then, respond to the issue with confidence (even if you are unsure) because you can always get someone to assist you. At that moment though, you need to makethe end-user feel good about you helping them. If not, they will complain even if we do help them...it wasn't quick enough or the technician was rude.

Your last statement sums it all up..."Take people on a memorable journey, and they won't notice the mistakes you make or the things you get wrong. Ignore the journey and all they will notice is the mistakes you make and the things you get wrong."

Thx for sharing!

[Noah Fleming]

Nice post.

It's cool to hear of someone who went above and beyond.

[John Boudreau]

Simon,

Just picked up your book. Great insights!

[Mikita]

Absolutely. I think companies forgot their most valuable asset is their own employees and what they empower them to do.

Reminds me of the episode of Undercover Boss earlier this year when the CEO went undercover at one particular 7-11 franchise to find out why that store consistently sold so much dang coffee. He went in theorizing it was something they were doing to the coffee. What he learned was - it was because of Dolores. She has been an employee with 7-11 for 18 YEARS! and she chatted everyone up who came in for their coffee in the morning - she knew them by name and would ask what was going on in their lives, she even knew how they liked their coffee.

“He’s amazed by the amount of coffee we sell,” said Dolores, an 18-year employee of the franchise who knows every customer who walks through the door, has five children, is on dialysis–and has no idea her new hire is her boss undercover.
“That’s why we’re selling 2500 cups of coffee a day,” said DePinto to the cameras. “Not because we have great coffee, but because we have people like Dolores.”

[Katie Jones]

I love airplane stories!

thank you :) (for the story and the message in it)

[JFGrissom]

Hi Simon,

Your post reminds me of a couple things in my life that others might like.

More often than not, interactions with businesses these days are with people who are really unhappy or with a computer that is artificially over-happy.

The idea that someone cares enough to create an experience for you is a remarkable thing... it is a very rare case these days that you get something sincere (at least in my personal experience it is rare.)

My wife and I arbitrarily decided to take a horse drawn carriage ride in downtown San Diego one Friday night. It was a nice relaxing ride but the thing that made the night was the driver.

She told us about her exploits, sailing around the world, and deep sea diving. All the while she also filled us in on the history of San Diego (our home town, for the last 8 years) that we didn't know about. (I guess gas lamp used to be pretty sketchy.)

Just like your experience, the coach we were in was old and had seen much better years, but the driver/captain made such a profound impact on us I took up surfing in part because of here enthusiasm for it.

Another thing your post reminds me of is my time waiting tables so many years ago.

The experience is what counts, having a meal out is nice but having someone serve you wine, present it, cork it, and poor changes dinner a lot.

I can think of many times I poured wine for a table and could literally feel the mood of the meal change, because of the "experience".

There are few things that can match a good experience...

(Although I didn't get choked up when I watched the deadliest catch episode where they save the guys life. Though it was a great experience.)

;)

Thanks for the great content,
Jay

[Mars Dorian]

nice story. People crave experiences that go beyond the interaction itself. I remember a similar event where I had to join a boat tour with my family. I normally hate those touristic happenings, but the captain was so darn funny he made me constantly crack up throughout the trip.

great,grrreat experience !