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KIOSKCOM: Keynote speaker discusses secrets behind success with airline self-service

Delta Air Lines maximized efficiency, saw customer satisfaction increase.

May 6, 2009

LAS VEGAS — Before hitting the convention center floor Wednesday at the KioskCom Self Service Expo and The Digital Signage Show, attendees heard Joshua Weiss recount Delta Air Lines' recipe for self-service success. Following a merger with Northwest Airlines about six months ago, Delta became the largest airline in the world.

Weiss, who has been with Delta for 13 years as managing director of self-service, shared the airline's strategies with a packed house and commended the industry for its leading-edge innovation.

"The pace of change in our industry and what we've had to accommodate ourselves to, compared to other industries, is pretty unbelievable," Weiss said.

He pointed to the many obstacles that have faced airlines throughout the last decade — 9/11, SARS, fluctuating fuel prices and struggling economies — and spoke of how self-service technology has not only helped Delta stay profitable in the face of such issues, but also see a spike in customer satisfaction numbers at the same time.

Weiss cited statistics that say more than 80 percent of Delta travelers now check in via self-service or Delta.com, and that the airline's revenue from self-service and online ticketing surpasses the GDP of 80 percent of the countries in the world.

For much of the presentation, Weiss emphasized the critical notion that self-service deployers must cover all of their customer experience, employee engagement and branding basics, while growing globally and maintaining a "best-in-class" cost structure.

"If you embark on a self-service initiative with cost as a singular goal, it will not be successful," he said.

Important considerations, Weiss said, include things like an attractive, easy-to-use interface, consistent branding and experiences across all channels and keeping employees involved in the process. Delta even has employees at different airports compete to have the highest self-service usage rates, which Weiss said leads to agents coming out from behind the counter and engaging travelers with the technology, thereby providing "full-service self-service."

Also during the keynote, Weiss emphasized the importance of catching up to mobile commerce and mastering and standardizing mobile technology throughout the industry.

"They expect us to be on, available, everything they want to do, optimized for their device, 24 hours per day, in their language," he said. "We're not there yet in mobile, and that, in my mind, is the biggest opportunity for all of us."

Lastly, Weiss said it's crucial not to forget that technology isn't the end-all, be-all. Pointing to instances of delayed or cancelled flights, after which airline agents often swim in a sea of meal, transportation and hotel vouchers and arrangements, he shared that Delta has equipped its agents with wireless, handheld devices to help them continue to provide a consistent and supportive customer experience.

"When moments of high stress happen … there are times when people just want to talk to people," he said.