Independence Air - Not so Independent

[True Story, just adding color]

It was a long day for Matt. In the interest of saving his new company's travel budget from taking a big hit, he was going to Washington DC from Seattle, two stops via Houston.  Now, after some really long meetings, it was time to make this ugly trek home.

Through security, dragging thy tired butt down the terminal, he spots Independence Air. Hmmm, who they? Whoa! A direct flight to Seattle leaving in 15 minutes, who's yer daddy!! No checked baggage, whoo hoo!

Matt zips over to the gate. Looks around to a empty area, everybody is on the plane.

Matt - "Is this plane full?"

Nice person - "Nope"

"Tell you what. I'm on Continental to Seattle via Houston in the back of the bus, cramped and tired. See, here's my ticket. I'll pay you a hundred bucks, cash, if you sell me a seat on the plane. You get 100 bucks and a new and loyal customer."

"I'm sorry, sir, I can't do that."

"But the plane's leaving with empty seats, yer a discount airline, and, well, the seats are going empty"

[Blank Stare]

"I'm sorry sir, I can't do that, it's not company policy, sorry."

Now, at this point, there are a million different ways to debate this, but before you conclude anything, let's take a quick look at what the corporation says about itself. What it thinks it stands for.

First, we can look at the standard about page. It's nicely done, history, etc.

But what stands out are these employee values:

i am about the customer first

i am genuine

i am about integrity

i am about operational excellence

i am innovative

i am enthusiastic

Hmm.. File these, we'll be coming back to them.

Next, let's run over and take a look at the management of Independence Air. They have the standard page full of the management and there is a good write up about the Chairman and CEO, Kerry Skeen.

Now this is one dedicated guy. Been there from day one, etc, etc.  In fact, the PR/Marketing people who wrote this up, want you to know this is about changing the status quo. You can read the whole thing on the link above but check out some of these tidbits about Kerry Skeen.

"When’s the last time you sat on an aircraft waiting to take off and the CEO of the airline got onboard, grabbed the microphone and greeted passengers? That’s typical at Independence Air."

"One thing you’ll consistently hear about from Independence Air employees is Skeen’s commitment to safety.  An annual letter is sent to all employees, ordering them to immediately halt any operation they feel is unsafe, and promising no adverse consequences as a result. On this letter, signed by every operational executive, Skeen’s is always the first signature listed."

"Independence Air is about being unique, moving in a fresh, new direction by challenging the status quo and pursuing rewards that can only be achieved when one is willing to take risks."

Now before you think this is a rant about having to schlep to Houston or this is a rant on anything, don't go there as this is really not at all about anything other then walking the talk.

Go back and take a quick look at the employee values. Two of them should stand out. Customer first and Innovation. Then check out the challenging the status quo stuff. And the commitment to telling his employees, do what's right, you won't get fired.

Hmmm.. Maybe. Seems to me we still don't get it. We still don't create companies where people can simply do what's right and make independent calls on anything reasonable that gets the mission of changing the status quo, loving customers, and really shaking things up to a level nobody could even react to.

Can you imagine hearing the following announcement:

Ladies and Gentlemen, over here at gate 50, we're fixin to leave for Denver and we've got 6 empty seats. If you got crappy connections and would like a nice leather seat with a brewski, come on over to gate 50. The first 6 people, with no checked luggage and a crispy twenty can hop on the plane. That's only at gate 50, only on Independence Air and only for the next 10 minutes.

That's shaking up the status quo and that's buzz, Mr. Skeen. 

And before I get a zillion emails/comments on all the security, accounting, people who paid more, issues, don't dumpster dive into the details, this is a higher level thing about unleashing the power of the people that work for you.

Think about it. Think about all those people who could make the company a buck or two, create some buzz, take a few risks, and crank it up a notch. Are they thinking with independence on the brain or it's just a job in a company with really good marketing and pr.  It's not about what I think, it's truly about what your team thinks.

Good ahead, take a chance, unleash em.

Comments

[Matt]

This is why I run a business whose dealings with the government are limited to paying taxes.

I would be entirely unsurprised to learn that airlines are _prohibited by law_ from doing what you expected them to do. Security used to be their responsibility and thus (at least to a certain extent) security policy was under their control. Post-9/11, that's not true anymore. And so one can't escape the security angle by handwaving about "empowering the employees".

If such a thing would be permitted, then sure...consider installing cash registers at the gates. But remember to think of the possible downsides in other conditions. (Think "oversold flight in the last slot of the night, with a natural disaster expected to close the airport the next day, and frazzled gate attendents trying to simultaneously guard a supply of cash and prevent a full-scale riot in the boarding area".)

I'm all in favor of empowerment, but the truth is that the customer isn't _always_ right...just usually.

[Rachel]

Matt - yeah, you are probably right that there are laws out there making it very difficult for Airlines to do anything other than what they have done for so many years. But that's not the most important point here. To your comment that A customer is only usually right: well, no, I don't agree with you. The customer is right in the sense that they have presented a need that they would happily pay for to be fulfilled. It does not make them wrong if the company they approach cannot, or will not, provide a solution for the potential customer's problem. It just means that they will have no choice but to be content with other solutions (yeah, he still got home, but he was willing to pay for a better experience/way to get home...)

More important than that is the fact that the company has very clearly proclaimed themselves to be all about, summing it up in one word, INDEPENDENCE. If you are presenting yourself to be all about innovation and 'doing it differently' than it is not unsurprising that said potential customer is going to be more irked at you (compared to the company next to you who's company motto is "we do it like the everybody else") because you have proven to be entirely unremarkable.

Rather than looking for ways to do things that fit into the rules the way they have previously been defined, an industry hurting as much as aviation needs to be on the lookout for these potential ways to create a loyal customer, or even if you will a customer advocate/evangalist.

And of course the simple solution to the cash register is of course to only accept credit cards. But then, it seems that a ticket sales booth for a hot concert seems to manage ok with potential rioters, so I'm not sure I'd be too terribly concerned with that issue. Furthermore, how many armed officers are patrolling airports these days, again?

[Chris]

Are you kidding me, your bashing my employer because you could not get what you wanted, a rediculuously cheap fare!?!?!

Lets play the devils advocate here. So let's say what you suggest was allowed and people knew about it, how long would it take for people to stop buying tickets on us. Instead they would buy fully refundable tickets on other airlines and just start showing up to the gate in hopes of getting a cheap ticket? Come on man, be real! We get last minute travelers like you were all the time. They ask the price and decide if it's worth it, often it is, and they buy a ticket (over the phone with a credit card) and go home. They usually come from United after being stranded, and often become loyal customers. In your case it appears a last minute Seattle flight would have been about $300, thats very reasonable for one way last minute.

Try flying Independence Air next time and see what you think. I think you'll be pleasantly suprised.

[Martin]

I am part of management at Independence, and yes it would be cool to pull off some moves like that. But as you said; "before I get a zillion emails/comments on all the security, accounting, people who paid more, issues, don't dumpster dive into the details" I will not, but it is not that simple. If I may I will only ad that you have no clue how the airline industry works, just because you travel many times a week or month, doesn't make you an expert, there are many things that are not told to travelers, for their security.