Gov’t to Passengers: Help us Get Better Airline Service
0 Comments
Accra, Ghana - There is no question that when it comes to providing customer service to African markets, the airline as an industry does its very best to reduce satisfaction levels. Delta routinely hand picks the rudest staff to shepherd customers through ticketing lines and to field queries. KLM selects the most decrepit air buses of its fleet to fly from Amsterdam to Accra. British Airways just doesn’t give a crap all the way around. United Airlines, not quite a year old in service to the African market, is beginning to adopt similar behavior that legacy carriers to Africa have displayed for years.
Related
When it comes to Africa, it’s best not to deliver your best. That’s what the world expects.
An industry insider explained this business approach, and what governments and passengers can do to turn the tide in their favor.
“Westerners are accustomed to seeing Africans running around topless with loin cloths and bones in their noses,” said Melissa Blah, a writer for a premier international travel magazine. “If governments could persuade their people to be more ‘indigenous’, it might help ease air carriers into this new relationship.”
We asked her to explain what she meant by ‘indigenous’.
“You know…grunt when you want to say ‘hello’. Use a pantomime when you want a ticket. Surely do not use the English that you’ve been taught in school. Maybe throw in images of a roaming, wounded zebra or two carrying little children to school. The American and European carriers are not prepared to treat African customers like savvy consumers, simply because they do not perceive them that way. But if governments could get their populaces as a whole to adopt a more Hollywood version of how the rest of the world views Africa and Africans as, it would improve service. They would have pity on the passengers, and treat them as charity cases… And charity means kindness.”
What about the fact that these are paying customers…some of whom pay over $2500 for a single ticket?
“No one cares how much an Africans spend on travel, because Africans trade in beads and cowrie shells…everyone knows that.”
Since Africa has to develop (and hopefully, achieve) certain Millennium Development goals by 2020, going backwards in education in order to get better air passenger service is not going to be an option. Ms. Blah, never short on ideas did offer one stunning alternate solution.
“If governments could persuade more Whites, Asians, Portuguese…anybody BUT Africans to fly to and from Africa, service levels would improve immediately,” she said. “Those people have the perception of being savvy, and therefore can make the demand for better service.”
Can an African?
“Nope! They sure can’t,” she insisted. “Coffee? I’m so sorry. You don’t drink coffee, do you, African? How about some fetid river water instead?”
We declined.
Governments meantime are taking the advice of Ms. Blah and others in the industry very seriously. Because many of the loans they will be getting rely on achieving their MDGs, education will have to improve, but there are no limitations on beginning to change the national perception. And that begins with changing the populace’s psyche. Plans have already been implemented to place embargos on jeans, silk shirts, high end shoes or any other commodities that might make individuals feel professional or fashionable.
As one minister put it:
“It is our duty as a nation to rally together and do this. I know it seems like the equivalent of a crippled mad cutting off his legs and hoping a new pair will grow back…but that’s the way it is. Surely we cannot be expected to create and maintain our own aircraft carrier or fleets. That would be disastrous -anyone remember Ghana Airways?”
