United Airlines Weather Alerts Make You Master of Your Travel Destiny
I’m a big fan of customer empowerment as a way to create strategic advantage. United Airlines recently introduced (or at least I recently noticed) an SMS- and email-based weather alerts system that notifies passengers of possible weather-related travel disruptions for upcoming flights. The result is a customer experience that not only puts decision-making power in the hands of customers, it also helps to alleviate a major source of frustration directed towards airlines about a circumstance over which they have zero control—the weather.
Here’s how it works and why it’s brilliant:
Based on weather projections and, I presume, predictive analytics—I’m only guessing as I have not researched exactly how United determines when a flight may be at risk of disruption—the Airline calculates with some reasonable probability that a flight in your future itinerary may experience weather-related delays. United then sends a text message, typically within 24 hours of departure, alerting you to the possibility of a disruption and giving you the opportunity to change your flight without incurring the last minute change fee. That’s a big cost saving—as much as $200 on domestic flights and up to $400 when flying internationally.
This is all very friendly, helpful and convenient for the customer, but why is this valuable for United? Why would they invest in the technology to deliver this customer experience and forego potential revenue in the form of high-cost change fees?
Because the only thing airline passengers hate more than flight delays is flight cancellations. And they immediately look for someone to blame. United has learned that in the heat of the moment no amount of logical reasoning can convince passengers that it’s not entirely the airline’s fault. There’s always some sliver of distrust: Is it really the weather or did the pilot just not show up today? Is it really the weather or is the airline covering for an equipment failure? Is it really the weather or did they undersell the flight and are trying to combine flights? How could the airline not have seen this coming?? Etc.
The brilliance of this solution is that from the moment United alerts you to a potential issue and removes the financial barrier of a change fee, the onus now shifts entirely from their shoulders onto yours. You are now responsible for whatever happens as a result of a weather-related disruption.
It also demonstrates how a brand can create a positive customer experience by avoiding a negative one. In mitigating the risk of a bad customer experience by rescheduling your flight around an ice storm, United helps turn what could have been a very bad day into a moderately inconvenient one. In this case, the opportunity cost of waiving change fees vastly outweighs the cost of refunded flights and planeloads of angry customers.
It’s a win for the customer and it’s a win for the airline. Does that remove all potential doubt? No. There will be those who still think the airline is gaming the system; to use the weather as an excuse to move pressure from an overcrowded flight at a peak time to a less crowded flight at an off-peak time, or whatever deceit comes to mind. But for now, there’s enough value on both sides of the equation to give the airline a little credit. And it’s differentiating enough to create strategic advantage — by design.
