I guess I shouldn't pick on United Airlines so often in this blog ... but they're such an easy target.
I just got off a long international flight (Honolulu to Tokyo) and had plenty of time to read the inflight magazine. In it, there was a self congratulatory article about their executive chef and the wonderful inflight menus he is creating. The article featured and displayed first and business class meals (though it did mention creating meal boxes) The only problem is that I was reading this article in coach just before being served possibly the worst inflight snack I have ever experienced. It was a very dry and stale "croissant" (I had to put it in quotes) and a fruit cup with exactly two pieces of pineapple and two pieces of cantaloupe. And, of course, the airline doesn't even serve complimentary meals in coach anymore.
There were two photographs accompanying the article. One was the smiling executive chef. The second was a gorgeous shot of a meal featuring a rare cut of beef.
United's management seems oblivious to the reality that 90+% of the passengers reading this article are reading it in a coach seat. Like the Greek myth of Tantalus, they see something they want, but they can't have it.
The lesson here is that you shouldn't oversell your product. It just ticks people off. United does this routinely ... recently featuring "new improved" business class flat bed seating in business class, for example, when the great majority of their fleet doesn't have it installed.
Let's be honest about what we sell.
No comments:
Post a Comment