It is essential to focus on the whole holiday experience to build the excitement from the departure lounge, says MSC Cruises executive director Giles Hawke
One of the great mysteries of the travel industry is the high number of people working in it who don’t like flying.
I’m in that club. The slightest sign of turbulence sends my pulse racing. If you’ve sat next to me as I’ve gripped the arm-rest in terror, I can only apologise.
Given my fear, it is ironic that I have ended up in a job requiring a weekly commute to Switzerland. Being forced to face up to my phobia is gradually helping it to diminish, while all those hours in the air have given me time to reflect on the travel experience for many of our customers.
Feel the glamour
It could be a generational thing, but I have a fascination with flying. As a kid, heading off on an overseas family holiday was something exotic – and that feeling hasn’t really left me. I still feel there is a glamour in arriving at the airport and boarding a plane to arrive in a different country and culture.
Despite my regular Twitter moans about long border control queues, delayed flights and other passengers walking too slowly or reclining their seats, I have a sense of something special happening when I arrive at the airport – certainly more than I do for my London commute.
As a business, we all need to do more to sell the sizzle of the journey by plane, as well as the hotel or cruise that people are flying to.
If people aren’t regular air travellers, they should definitely be sold a lounge pass. The sense of tranquillity and decadence of a lounge adds something special to the whole airport experience.
We should even recommend people arrive at the airport several hours early if they are shoppers or foodies. The security process isn’t that bad, and I have rarely had a real delay in getting through.
Build the excitement
And then there is the flight itself. Modern flying is great. There is time to work, think, sleep, read, play, watch something or look out of the window and see the world, all without the continual ‘ping’ of an email arriving. Flying is either a necessary evil or a great part of the holiday experience. If we do our jobs right, we can help customers to see it as the latter.
It is essential to focus on the whole holiday experience, including the flight, to build the excitement from the departure lounge.
Travelling for your holiday needn’t be something you simply survive. It can be a key part of the week or fortnight away, and agents have the opportunity to help make this happen by preparing customers well, adding all the elements that make it an even more enjoyable experience and ensuring that getting there
is the perfect tee-up to being there. It is equally important on the way home.
The statistics say that air travel is a safe way to travel (second to sea travel, I believe), as I remind myself every time I am on an aircraft flying though turbulence. It can also be one of the most enjoyable ways to travel.