What key operational issues can you identify in this situation? Happy Airways-how to keep the passengers happy!By Dr Rajeev Sharma, Charles Darwin UniversityThe take-offHappy Airways flight HAO09 from Bangkok to Sydney was scheduled todepart at 10:40pm. The pilot informed the passengers before thescheduled take-off that due to heavy congestion at Suvarnabhumi Airport,there would be a slight delay. No one seemed to mind. In fact, manytravellers felt reassured by this friendly and informative update.HA009 was a code-shared flight with more than 180 passengers onboard. While the majority were Australians, a substantial number ofpassengers were from other countries, mostly from South-East Asia. Manypassengers had connected with the flight from other internationaldestinations such as Dhaka, Ho Chi Min City, Jakarta, Tokyo and Seoul.Although for many travellers, Sydney was the final destination, others wereExhibit 10.19 Not-so-happy travel with Happydue to connect with domestic flights to places such as Wagga Wagga,Airways.Bathurst and the Gold Coast.© rawpixel/123RF.com/DALCHAPTER 10 Services: the intangible product327Checked-in baggageAs a full service carrier, all passengers on this flight had a decent checked-in baggage allowance. Economy-class passengerswere allowed one checked bag of not more than 23 kg. However, this allowance became progressively higher, driven byfactors such as 'frequent flight' status, country of the ticket purchase and class of travel.In-flight experienceDespite leaving the aircraft bay at about 11:10pm, the plane was not airbound until 11:50pm-just over an hour late fromthe scheduled departure. The passengers' frustration with this delay was mild but noticeable. The in-flight crew did their bestto look after the passengers, but many families, particularly those with very young children, were clearly unhappy with thewhole situation. To make the situation more unpleasant, it turned out to be a bumpy flight due to monsoon activities inthe region. For the most part of the journey, all passengers were required to keep their seatbelts fastened and wererestricted to their seats. ArrivalHAO09 was further delayed and eventually landed in Sydney at 10am-about two hours late due to the influx of regularinternational flights at Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport.No one could anticipate that more drama awaited them in Sydney. More than 85 per cent of passengers did not gettheir checked-in luggage. After clearing immigration formalities, the passengers waited patiently at the announcedbaggage conveyor belt. They started to get suspicious when only a few bags emerged on the belt. Apart from a fewporters and airport staff, no one from Happy Airways was there to provide credible information on the status of thechecked-in luggage.Customer serviceThe passengers eventually found the customer service counter of Happy Airways, tucked away in an obscure location.By now, all of the passengers were gravely concerned about their missing luggage. This was particularly noticeable forpassengers who did not reside in Sydney and for passengers who were due to connect with other flights in Sydney.This group had multiple concerns, including the possibility of having to come back to Sydney Airport to collect their luggagewhen it did arrive, as well as worries about customs formalities.It became evident that most non-Australian passengers were in Sydney for official engagements and meetings.The delayed luggage was clearly a source of huge inconvenience and frustration for them.The customer service counter of Happy Airways was soon overwhelmed by 150 or so passengers-some clearlyseething with disgust and anger. The airline staff struggled to provide definitive answers to some very simple queries fromthe passengers, such as:When will the luggage arrive?When will the airline provide information about the luggage?The process to formally register missing luggage with the airlines proved to be tedious and at first there were insufficientforms for everyone affected by the delay. The result was confusion, frustration and delay.Reason for missing luggageEveryone wanted to understand why they didn't get their luggage. Clearly it was not a case of one or a few misplaced piecesof luggage left behind at the source as the result of an oversight. There was obviously a more serious reason. Reluctantly,one Happy Airways staff member confirmed that the pilot had decided to offload most of the luggage in order to carry extrafuel to deal with the likely monsoon activity in the flight path.After going through the lengthy paperwork process, most passengers had left the airport by 2pm. Despite the assurancethat their luggage would be delivered within 24 hours, some of the passengers in Sydney waited two days. It was unclearwhen the out-of-Sydney passengers got their luggage.(This anecdotal case study is based on firsthand experience of recent international travel.)Continued

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All the passengers were not affected by the issue. However, 85% of the passengers were affected. The…