Airline Sky Miles
Airline Sky Miles
Emergence, Marketing Mix and Effects upon the Airline Industry
1. Abstract The contemporaneous business industry is significantly different from how it used to be only a few decades ago. The primary change that occurred regarded the nature of the business. As such, in the past, business activities had a more practical and technological nature and they were generally product oriented; but today, they have become more human oriented. For instance, during the twentieth century, the focus was on the products manufactured and the technologies used, without much emphasis on the human resource or on customer satisfaction. So low was the interest towards customer satisfaction, that Henry Ford even said once that his customers could have their cars made in any color they desired, as long as this color was black. Today however, the industrial sector places increased emphasis on both employees as well as customers. Employees have transformed from the people operating the machines into the company’s most vital resources and the customers are the forces that drive businesses. An industry sector which is extremely relevant of this change in the nature of the businesses conducted is the airline sector. There are numerous airline companies that compete against each other on the market and strive to present customers with the best products and services. Furthermore, these companies invest millions of dollars each year in order to improve the quality of their products and increase customer satisfaction. A more and more common means of achieving this is that of offering customers the possibility to fly for free or, at least, to benefit of deductions and special offers.
2. Emergence of airline sky miles Airline sky miles programs were first initiated in order to attract more customers. Delta Airlines was one of the first companies to ever implement these programs which were soon adopted by most national and international airline companies. The
Emergence, Marketing Mix and Effects upon the Airline Industry
1. Abstract The contemporaneous business industry is significantly different from how it used to be only a few decades ago. The primary change that occurred regarded the nature of the business. As such, in the past, business activities had a more practical and technological nature and they were generally product oriented; but today, they have become more human oriented. For instance, during the twentieth century, the focus was on the products manufactured and the technologies used, without much emphasis on the human resource or on customer satisfaction. So low was the interest towards customer satisfaction, that Henry Ford even said once that his customers could have their cars made in any color they desired, as long as this color was black. Today however, the industrial sector places increased emphasis on both employees as well as customers. Employees have transformed from the people operating the machines into the company’s most vital resources and the customers are the forces that drive businesses. An industry sector which is extremely relevant of this change in the nature of the businesses conducted is the airline sector. There are numerous airline companies that compete against each other on the market and strive to present customers with the best products and services. Furthermore, these companies invest millions of dollars each year in order to improve the quality of their products and increase customer satisfaction. A more and more common means of achieving this is that of offering customers the possibility to fly for free or, at least, to benefit of deductions and special offers.
2. Emergence of airline sky miles Airline sky miles programs were first initiated in order to attract more customers. Delta Airlines was one of the first companies to ever implement these programs which were soon adopted by most national and international airline companies. The
References: • 2007, Credit Cards that earn free travel, Dial Abroad, http://www.dial-abroad.org/blue.htm, last accessed on October 29, 2007 • 2007, Airline miles credit card with travel reward, Credit Federal, http://creditfederal.com/airline-miles-creditcard.html, last accessed on October 29, 2007 • 2007, The Marketing Mix, The Four P’s of Marketing, Net MBA, http://www.netmba.com/marketing/mix/, last accessed on October 29, 2007 • 2005, Lukach, T., America Supports You: Americans Donate Sky Miles to Wounded Troops, U.S. Department of Defense, http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=16941, last accessed on October 29, 2007 • 2007, Get up to 17,500 Bonus Miles with the Gold Delta Sky Miles Credit Card, American Express, https://www201.americanexpress.com/cards/Applyfservlet?csi=24/14448/b/218, last accessed on October 29, 2007 • Knox, T., June 6, 2007, Delta Sky Miles Gold Credit Card, Your Credit Network, http://www.yourcreditnetwork.com/blog/DeltaSkyMilesGoldCreditCard.aspx, last accessed on October 29, 2007 • 2007, Airline Credit Cards with Frequent Flyer Miles, Credit Cards, http://www.creditcards.com/airline-miles.php, last accessed on October 29, 2007