<B> AA Tops Domestic Poll</B>
<I>Corporate Buyers Fail Airlines On Performance In First BTN Survey</I>
By Jay Campbell
American Airlines was named the best domestic airline with which to do business by corporate travel managers and corporate agents in Business Travel News' first-ever Airline Survey. Like its competitors, however, it still has a lot of work to do to win real acclaim--or even a passing grade--from the buyers of corporate travel services.
Respondents to BTN's poll picked American, followed by Delta Air Lines, Trans World Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines, respectively, as the five carriers they would most like to work with in putting together domestic corporate travel programs. The scoring included rankings of flexibility in corporate negotiations, data reporting, traveler services and price/value.
While choosing the winners, though, business travel buyers loudly expressed their dissatisfaction with the domestic airline industry as a whole. Asked to grade U.S. carriers' performances on a scale of one to 10 in various categories, business travel managers and agency distributors together gave the airline operators a 5.46 score overall on their domestic operations.
"You'd hope that on a scale of one to 10, the airlines would at least get some consistent scores in the seven to nine range," said Rolfe Shellenberger, a Palm Desert, Calif.-based senior consultant for Runzheimer International. "But the low number of rankings in excess of seven tells the story all by itself."
Among the variables surveyed, the lowest scores went to those that described negotiating practices rather than products and services. At the bottom of the rankings were quantity and quality of sales rep visits, at 19 percent below average, flexibility in negotiating on price, flexibility negotiating amenities and empowerment of sales reps.
On the service side, quality of premium classes received the best score, at 18 percent above the average, followed by quality of service, quality of service personnel and overall price value.
Travel agents gave the airlines 13 percent lower overall scores than did corporate travel managers, hammering them on sales rep visits and the availability and accuracy of flown revenue data.
"Travel agents were more negative--that may be attributed to the commission cuts," said consultant John Heilner of Management Alternatives in Stamford, Conn. "On something like sales rep visits, it may be that corporate travel managers are satisfied with connecting by telephone."
Agents and corporate managers also differed in their rankings of particular airlines. American, for example, placed second behind Continental among distributors, but was named tops by travel managers. Above average in all variables with both groups, American also took first place in five categories among managers--data, group programs, empowerment of sales reps, flexibility in amenities and strategic selling--and three among agents--data, premium classes and VIP services.
AA's overall score was 16 percent higher than the average, which came as no surprise to industry pundits who highlighted American's corporate discipline, customer focus and command of information.
"Those AA sales guys carry a laptop full of data," said Shellenberger. "The stuff they get is very good and I would attribute much of this result to the power of their information systems."
Continental's overall showing of 8 percent above average got a boost from its popularity with agents, who ranked the airline above average in all categories, and first in five of them: group programs, empowered sales reps, flexibility in both price and amenities and strategic selling.
Corporate travel managers, on the other hand, ranked the Houston-based carrier above average in four categories and first in none. They were critical of Continental's relative data capabilities and price value.
Second-place finisher Delta scored above average in all categories among agents and in 11 among travel managers, giving it a deviation of 11 percent above average. Travel agents ranked Delta first in terms of sales rep visits. "Delta is traditionally strong in services and overall value, but those slipped with their layoffs under the Leadership 7.5 cost-cutting program a couple years back," said Heilner. "But credit CEO Leo Mullin and his lieutenants, including sales head Vince Caminiti who came over from American several years ago, for the strong showing here."
United, 7 percent above average overall, took first place among corporates in terms of sales rep visits and was above average in 12 categories; among agents, the airline was above average in ten categories. United ranked fairly low among agents in problem resolution and price value, however.
Surprising to some, TWA--at 9 percent above average--was also part of the group of five that enjoyed top-tier results, finishing above average in all categories as rated by travel agents and in eight among managers. TWA ranked first among corporates in price flexibility, also not a surprise given the carrier is often a secondary choice, with relatively few nonstop markets outside of St. Louis. Like Continental and Delta, though, TWA ranked below average in quality of service.
The two major airlines that stand out in the lower tier are Northwest and US Airways, which scored poorly among both audiences at 10 and 7 percent below average, respectively. Northwest's best showing was among agents, who gave it above-average scores in five categories but also ranked it dead last in quality of service and price value, and low in customer service personnel. Corporate travel managers ranked Northwest below average in all categories, and particularly in customer service personnel, quality of service and price value. These scores likely are a reflection of the airline's ongoing labor disputes and recent strike.
US Airways' only above-average ranking came from corporates in the category of sales rep visits. Otherwise, the airline was dead last among managers in price value and scored low among agents in problem resolution, customer service personnel and price value.
Perhaps, like Northwest, the benefit of the doubt is due US Airways as the recent overhaul of its sales department (<I>BTN,</I> Aug. 3), under former American Airlines sales manager Steven Tracas, may not yet have made an impression on customers.
"Each airline has a unique personality," said Shellenberger. "If the client recognizes the airline's issues, and if the sales rep is candid about what he will and won't do and why, there's tremendous opportunity for negotiation."
But he emphasized that that kind of reasoned, open communication must come from the buyer as well as the seller. "A travel manager's measure of airline performance cannot simply be whether or not the buyer gets the same discounts and services everyone else does. Travel managers must consider that everybody's needs are different, and success comes when you can match what you have to offer to where the airline needs help.