1. Experience Air Travel
through the Customer’s Eyes;
a Powerful Way to
Improve your Customer Services
The Customer Journey White Paper
April 2011
Pauline E. M. Hoogervorst & Ron Verweij
AirGate Solutions

2. The Customer Journey
©2011 AirGate Solutions Toronto•Amsterdam•London•Singapore Page 2
Technology and pervasive information in the hands of the communication savvy passengers is
changing the game, making it increasingly difficult to rely on brand image, market presence or
scale. What will distinguish the leaders of the future will be outstanding customer services.
Passengers expect a positive experience at a reasonable price. The target continues to move as
passengers’ needs and expectations change and evolve. Keeping pace with these changes means
thinking differently. Airlines & airports must use Customer Experience as the competitive
differentiator to ensure long-term success and increasing passenger loyalty.
Even though many airlines & airports recognize the need to become customer centric, they find it
difficult to change, since they are traditionally operational focused. This white paper presents the
benchmark methodology in evolving your organization in a customer centric focus, introducing the
holistic Customer Journey approach.
Figure 1: The complete Customer Journey of an air traveler.
Airline & Airport Priorities
In a recent survey by
Airline Information© (in
conjunction with ICLP, 86%
of the responded airlines
put improving the
Customer Experience as
their first priority.
To be able to improve the
Customer Experience
means being able to
understand and see the
journey through the
Customer’s Eyes. A
fascinating conclusion was
that whilst just over 50% of
airlines have identified all
of the Touch Points, 25% of
them have not
implemented any
improvements.
Figure 2: Priorities for Airlines to Improve Profitability
(source: Airline Information© & ICLP)
At least those airlines are ahead of the 21% of respondents who haven’t yet mapped out the
Customer Journey at all! This reveals a huge opportunity for airlines to make a real difference
to their Customer Experience at the Touch Points which matter most to their passengers.
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3. The Customer Journey
©2011 AirGate Solutions Toronto•Amsterdam•London•Singapore Page 3
Customer Journey Mapping
The Customer Journey
is the journey a
customer makes
through the service
cycle.
A journey with:
- Customer Actions,
usually broken into
chronological phases.
- Goals and Needs at
each step in the
process.
- Touch Points:
interactions between
customer and brand
- Customer Emotions
at touch points.
- Insight in the
different Channels.
A Moment of Truth is a
defining moment in
the service cycle that
will make or break the
experience from a
customer point of
view.
By looking at the Customer Journey through the Eyes of the Customer, airlines & airports can
experience the Moments of Truth that will define a consistent Customer Experience. The view of
the interaction must be from start to end, from check-in online to arrival at destination (and back
home again).
With this broaden view, airlines can understand how the customer interacts across the various
service channels and, as a result, can map the Customer Journey from a variety of instances and
identify the sequence of customer-company interactions. The Touch Point overview enables to
easily identify the Moments of Truth that make or break the Customer Experience from a
Customer perspective.
To the passenger the airport experience is viewed as a single continuous part of their trip,
unaware that airport operations actually involves different stakeholders, e.g. the airline, the
airport authorities and the ground handlers, all working together to deliver a seamless passenger
flow.
Customer Journey Mapping can be used within airlines and airport organization internally to
break down the walls between the organizational silos.
Customer Journey Mapping can be very powerful when all stakeholders, such as airlines & airport
authorities as well as ground handlers collaborate, enabling them to get the holistic view on the
passenger and cooperate to jointly improve the passenger’s travel experience.
This explanatory document gives a view at a glance of how the Customer Journey Mapping
method can improve the various services to your passenger in case of e.g. flight disruptions, along
with some hands-on examples / case studies of recent projects.
Passenger Experience around Flight Disruptions
Passenger surveys
show that there are
still many frustrations
around flight
disruptions, mainly
caused by a lack of
information and poor
communication
between airline,
airport and the
passenger.
A recent JD Powers
study indicates that
18.4 out of 100
passengers
experienced delayed or
cancelled flights.
Figure 3: Problems experienced on most recent flights
(Source: 2010 JD Power’s ‘Global Airline Traveler Survey’ commissioned by Amadeus)

4. The Customer Journey
©2011 AirGate Solutions Toronto•Amsterdam•London•Singapore Page 4
Service Improvement
Nothing is more
stressful for the
traveler than a delayed
or cancelled flight.
Some delays are
controllable whilst
many are not. It is
immaterial to the
customer whether or
not the cause is within
the control of the
airline or airport. A
delay can impact the
entire travel
experience.
Solving service
disruptions is a priority
for all airlines,
according to JD
Power’s recent survey.
Figure 4: Aspects of Travel for Improvement
(Source: 2010 JD Power’s ‘Global Airline Traveler Survey’ commissioned by Amadeus)
Using the Customer Journey to Improve Services around Flight Disruptions
Cancelled flights and other travel disruptions usually leave passengers annoyed. However, these
disruptions provide airlines & airports with the perfect opportunity to please their customers --
especially because Customer Expectations are often at their lowest levels. Delivering excellent
services in these circumstances can be a key differentiator and airlines & airports that respond
quickly to customer’s need in a personalized manner can help protect and even strengthen the
customer relationship in the long run.
During a one day in-company workshop with a cross functional team of your organization,
participants will actively learn to look through the passenger’s eyes and perceive the Customer
Experience when a flight is delayed or cancelled.
Figure 5: Customer Journey Map of the Average Travel Experience (part of the workshop material)

5. The Customer Journey
©2011 AirGate Solutions Toronto•Amsterdam•London•Singapore Page 5
Figure 5 shows a complete overview of the Customer
Journey from online- check-in to the arrival at the
destination. The journey is broken down in different phases
and it shows the possible Communication Channels
available for interactions and the various Touch Points with
the airline, the airport and other stakeholders during the
journey. The Emotions are visualised with emotiocons and
are plotted out for an average journey and are very
personal and in delay situations stressfull when not
managed properly. The Moments of Truth [MoT] in the
journey are plotted to show where and when in the Total
Experience can be made or broken.
When a delay occurs, the first response from the Airline or
Airport will define the overall experience. The Customer
Journey of the air traveler is complex and most of it is
outside the influence of Airlines & Airports. However, the
passenger is usually oblivious of the various stakeholders
and will hold the airline and airport accountable in case of
disruptions
In some cases delays are unforseen and managing the
experience will be about managing the emergency
according to human service values. In cases of a more
predictable delay, various service scenario’s can be activated
to turn a possible bad experience into a situation where
Airlines & Airports actually can be of service and make a
difference.
Examples of Service Concepts based on the Customer Journey
Based on Customer Journey projects on several Airports
involving various Airlines AirGate Solutions has build up
valuable insights on the value of the mobile channel as
Personal Travel Assistant. Figure 6 shows that throughout
the journey the mobile phone is available, from start at
home to the wifi sercvice on board the aircraft.
The different delay scenarios, including simple text
messages, have been implemented in 2006. Currently
various mobile services are available.
Moment of Truth: Starting the physical journey when leaving the work place, home or the hotel.
Figure 6: Nothing is as irritating as when you hurry to the Airport whilst the plane is delayed.
Figure 7: A tailor-made text message Informing the Passenger about a delay gives him the Opportunity
to Change the Travel Plan and Arrive relaxed and in time at the Airport.
Figure 8: How to handle a long delay or a cancellation and turn this in a service? How about informing the waiting
passenger about the various options in and near the airport, combined with a ‘Return to Airport’ text message!

6. The Customer Journey
©2011 AirGate Solutions Toronto•Amsterdam•London•Singapore Page 6
Service recovery solutions in case of a delay or cancellation
should be proactive & personalized, seamlessly responding
to the customer’s need. In case of a delay, send an instant
message to the passenger’s mobile phone immediately. And
a passenger with a connecting flight can receive additional
information on his new itinerary, including boarding passes.
Or send information to the passenger’s mobile phone with
alternates, in case a flight is cancelled, including flights
into/from nearby airports.
Service agents at airports are also an option. Since 2009
Delta Airlines has re-launched their so called ‘Red Coats’,
the elite agents for Personal Customer Services at airports.
Spanish airline Iberia has equipped their Customer Service
Staff at its Madrid-Barajas hub with iPads that provide them
with real-time access to the information they need to make
the best possible decisions and to keep passengers
informed.
If heavy delays occur it is a perfect opportunity for airports
and airlines to provide customers with information and
services to spend their waiting time as pleasant as possible,
even if it means an unscheduled sleepover. Dallas Airport
has signs posted at courtesy phones and in restrooms
informing travelers to call the Airport Operations Center if
they are stranded. The phone number is also shown on
flight-status monitors when a lot of flights are cancelled due
to weather conditions. Passengers can request anything
from cots to ear plugs to eye masks. The airport has three to
five employees in each terminal ready to dispatch to
wherever stranded travelers are.
Another opportunity is informing waiting travelers about
how far the nearest city is and possible leisure options, even
combined with discount vouchers and a ‘Return to Airport’
text message.
This gives you ‘Customer Journey Mapping’ at a glance – more information is available at Customer Journey Workshop
About the Authors
Pauline Hoogervorst is Director
Customer Service Solutions
with AirGate Solutions. Pauline,
based in Amsterdam, is a
management professional with
more than 30 years’ experience
working in the aviation
industry. She has an in-depth
knowledge of daily operations, as well as having senior
management roles in airlines such as; Singapore Airlines, Air
Florida, Trans World Airlines and Transavia Airlines (Air
France-KLM subsidiary). The Customer Management area
has been the main focus during her career and she
experienced this from both Operational and Commercial
sides. This also gave her the opportunity to understand the
gap between the "Marketing Promise" and the "Customer
Experience Her motivation and drive is to support the
aviation industry to change their organizations to become
customer-centric with a service delivery that fits their brand
promise.
Ron Verweij Service Designer and
Mobile Entrepeneur is Partner
Associate of AirGate Solutions.
Ron, based in Amsterdam, has
more than 15 years experience in
Retail, Mobile, Airport & Airline. As
Designer Ron worked on projects
for Schiphol Airport, KLM and
Transavia including the creation of the Bagdrop Self-service
Drop Off Concept. This project was the first Service Design
project in the Airport & Airline Industry based on the
Customer Journey. As Mobile Entrepreneur Ron co-founded
a Mobile Boarding card technology startup and 2 other
Mobile Service- and Technology startups. Targeted on the
mobile channel Ron developed mobile concepts for the
Airline Industry based on Customer Journey insights. Ron is
winner of the international highly acclaimed Red Dot- en iF
Design Awards in 2009 and the Ericsson Mobile Application
Award in 2004.
About AirGate Solutions
Changing the Passenger Experience is our core business. Connected passengers yield a rich source of data, enabling clients
a unique insight of passengers as customers. The company is focused on applying these insights to afford our clients the
opportunity to improve both their financial performance and the passenger experience delivered. AirGate Solutions’
portfolio of technology-based insight brands includes PEISM, Passenger Experience IndexSM, AeroBuzzSM, AeroBuzzMetricsSM,
AeroBuzzNetworkSM are service marks of AirGate Solutions. For more information, please visit www.airgatesolutions.com or
email us at info@airgatesolutions.com. Follow us on Twitter @airgatesolution.
©2011 AirGate Solutions. All rights reserved. PEI, Passenger Experience Index, AeroBuzz, AeroBuzzMetrics,
AeroBuzzNetwork are service marks of AirGate Solutions., in the U.S. and Canada and/or other countries. Other marks
referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.