After watching “Up in the Air” this weekend, I began thinking about the traveling public and how many men and women fly for business and pleasure each year. Most airlines have a program to reward their very best customers, as they should. In any business, it is always smart to create strategies to retain your current patrons, as well as steps to add new ones. Unfortunately, many businesses focus more on attracting new clients, which is much more costly than maintaining existing ones. But I digress.
As the travel industry continues to struggle with high fuel cost, nature’s intervention and security issues, businesses are spending less on travel and more on other means of connecting and doing business.
Both domestic (down 5.2 percent) and international (down 6.3 percent) flights are suffering as only 769.6 million people flew last year, down 5.3 percent from 2008’s 812.3 million and more than 8 percent below 2007’s total of 838.2 million.
Like many corporations, the airline industry would be wise to focus a little more on how they can better serve their flyers rather than what new fees they can impose.
Adding services that will appeal to women makes good business sense. Providing a safer airport
environment and more assistance when needed, especially for women traveling alone, would be a good place to start. Not that women are helpless, we aren’t. It is just nice to have friendly, helpful personnel available. However, the best way to make your airline “the airline of choice for women” is to ask them what they want. By creating a Woman’s Advisory Board that includes a diverse mix of women, an airline can literally pull ahead of its competition.