Between unpredictable weather, outages in air traffic control centres, and being short-staffed , airlines are feeling the pinch right now. Delays and cancelations at airports across Australia have drawn much frustration that political is starting to pile up for the government to step in with reforms.
For every flight that is delayed or canceled, dozens or hundreds of individual passengers find themselves interacting with customer service staff—and every one of those interactions is an opportunity to generate customer loyalty. If customer service reps have a good way to offer immediate help, customers can walk away with a positive experience. Without a good appeasement strategy, passenger frustration is just going to keep growing.
What makes a good appeasement strategy for airlines?
One way that appeasements differ from other payments like loyalty or employee rewards is: appeasements are always attached to an apology. In a situation with a delayed or canceled flight, passengers have already been inconvenienced and are probably tired and annoyed. Ease of use is the most important part of an appeasement payment.
That’s why using a virtual prepaid card is our recommendation. Our virtual Activ Visa® Prepaid Card is just like a physical prepaid card, except it is entirely digital. It’s delivered quickly by email and can be ready to use moments after your customer service rep deploys them.
This means that your rep could finish speaking with a disappointed passenger, deploy a virtual prepaid card for them, and the appeasement would be in their email and ready to spend by the time they’ve finished walking to a restaurant in the terminal.
Why are virtual prepaid cards better for airline appeasements?
Other common appeasement options include a voucher for a future flight or a credit of airline miles to a passenger’s loyalty account. While this is logical, it lacks a certain emotional impact. Many only fly once or twice a year—or less often!—so the appeasement effect is limited. For passengers without immediate flight plans, this kind of appeasement can feel like no apology at all.
A virtual prepaid card can still offer compensation for future flight costs, but they give passengers the power to decide their use for themselves. Maybe your delayed passenger has no future flight plans, but is exhausted and hungry. Perhaps what they really need to help the hours pass quickly is a new pair of headphones or an inflatable pillow?
Those kinds of decisions should be left up to passengers. After all, it’s their appeasement money—they should be free to spend it on whatever makes them feel better! When you offer a virtual prepaid card, you’re not giving a tired passenger a limited, restricted apology they can only use in the far future, if at all. Instead, they get a payment sent directly to their email-connected smartphone and they can use it however they want.
Why are virtual prepaid cards easier for you to deploy?
When a flight gets delayed or canceled, your customer service representatives get a sudden rush of hundreds of passengers to reschedule, reroute, and calm down. Being tied down to a small customer service counter equipped with a few printers creates a huge bottleneck. This contributes to long lines and even more frustration.
Why do virtual prepaid cards make your airline look good?
Everyone loves to complain about travel problems. When a delay or cancelation pops up, you can guarantee that every one of the affected passengers is going to be talking about what happens next for a few days. It’s a certain conversation starter for any new arrival: Hey, how was your flight?
Your airline has an opportunity to become part of that story in a positive way. When you adopt a passenger-focused, technologically advanced appeasement strategy, those traits and that good experience becomes part of the story passengers tell about your brand.
Change how you approach passenger appeasements: go virtual.
Moving people around the world is always going to be a risk, and problems are always going to pop up. Delays and cancelations happen! But for every passenger having their travel plans unraveled or delayed, it’s a moment of stress,
You can help solve that crisis—no matter what caused it—with an efficient appeasement that makes passengers feel acknowledged and taken care of.
You can look to virtual prepaid cards as your opportunity to change the story people tell about travel and your brand.
