Why Virgin Australia will be successful

I've posted recently about my experiences with Australia's two airlines and the contrasting customer service I've received on both. My business currently flies with Virgin after recently changing our policy of flying with Qantas. The poor service simply became inexcusable. But I'm not sure it is the fault of the staff, but more of the management. Today there was a quote from Virgin Australia CEO John Borgetthi, who said it is the airline’s crew who decide ultimately what passengers will experience. To me, that summed up the current differences between to the two airlines. This is what he said:

“We have consumer feedback, emails, random surveys but one of the most important elements of information is the crew because they see things every day and they know what works and doesn’t and what should be changed,” he said.

“The majority of the changes we have made have come from the crew.

“We talk about the cabin interior and making seats bigger and more comfortable, but above all I think what the people want apart from a smooth operation is service – a friendly, genuine, engaging service. And that’s something we have got and will continue to provide as we have but step up one more level, which we will,” he said.

For any company that really believes in customer service you must do exactly what John suggests you do - look after your staff, listen to your staff, but most of all empower your staff!