Laptop loaners as cabin service enhancers? Just. No.

Air India likely to offer laptops to business class passengers

(Note: This entry was originally posted on 17 January 2018)

Via The Times of India:

In a bid to woo business class passengers on its international flights Air India is considering providing laptops to its premium travellers, its Chairman and Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said today.

The move is geared towards improving the airline’s passenger load factor or seat occupancy in business class which often sees almost half the seats going empty.

…with “woo” being the operative word, as subsequently explained.

“In our long haul flights business class can be a money spinner for Air India. Our passenger load factor is only 50 per cent on these flights. We will try to see how to increase that, perhaps offer better quality of services. If our in-flight entertainment is not doing well, then we are thinking of alternatives. Laptops to business class passengers is a possibility,” Kharola told reporters.

He added that a decision is yet to be taken on whether these laptops would be offered to passengers only when the in-built video screens are not working or as an additional perk for premium travellers.

So Air India recognises that its business class cabin is a “money spinner”, yet it averages a load factor of only half, and — subsequently — believes the introduction of laptop loaners on flights will encourage more folks to fly with them over other carriers?

The self-doubting “perhaps offer better quality of services” [sic] and “if our in-flight entertainment is not doing well” statements are examples of the airline’s testament — or lack thereof — towards resolving the core issues surrounding a possibly lacklustre passenger experience provision.

Where a consensus exists that current hard and soft service provisions are insufficient, the priority to addressing these directly should precede all other efforts (because introducing new measures will most certainly pose its own set of separate challenges!)

Besides, the idea of “giving out laptops”, as loaners during the flight, is a very bad one — more so when they’re only intended for use as a service recovery measure!

Kinny tweets aviation, social media and technology on Twitter.