P2- I will be explain how relationship marketing can be applied to southwest airline.
South west airline is an American airline which was established in 1967 with the market share of
18.1% in 2015 and in 2016 it was 18.3%.They are a very popular and liked airline mainly because of
how they treat their customers and they are also low priced. They only fly in the U.S and nearby the
U.S as they travel to 98 destinations across the United States and seven additional countries such
as Jamaica. They also have never had a loss in profit for 43 years and no other us airline has
matched this. Their share name on the stock market is LUV because of their appreciation for their
customers. When the 9/11 happened which was bombing in the US, every airline except SWA made
a loss in terms of profit, which shows SWA is a popular airline. Every American airline received
compensation from the US government except SWA because they did not want it. They have had
the most passengers boarding and they are the largest airline that have had this. They are a very
popular airline with 100 million customers yearly, 53,000 employees and 3,900 departures a day.
They have an outstanding customer service, which is why they are very known and liked. Their
mission statement speaks about being determined to providing excellent customer service and they
also aim to be friendly and welcoming (Southwest Airline, 2017).
In terms of relationship marketing and how SWA achieve their amazing service and deliver excellent
customer service, they do not offer first class upgrades, no reserved seating and no inflight movies,
by saving in this area, they may their flights cheap, which makes them one of the cheapest US
airlines. One of their important rules is to “Be nice and smile a lot”. They provide excellent customer
service by training their employees to be nice even the employees in the back office who are not in
contact with customers as much. They recruit people who can communicate well and care for
customers. South west airlines also make sure employees treat all customers the same which will
allow customers to feel welcomed and not singled out. Even though they make sure they provide
excellent customer service they also ensure their departures are on time which is important for
customers as they do not want to be delayed. By rewarding their staff for good customer service,
this will motivate the employees to provide even better customers service and SWA will benefit from
this. SWA train employees enough, so they know to act in the customer’s best interest so the
customer is satisfied and they offer prices which are good value for the money paid. SWA make
sure they provide a memorable experience with the customer, which will stay with the customer and
they will remember this experience next time they want to use the airline.
SWA provide excellent customer service by focusing on every aspect such as the experience of the
customer, the brand, product and interaction; making these aspects effective will allow the customer
to have a good experience, SWA make sure they provide a welcoming environment and employees
have to be knowledgeable about the service they offer in order for them to provide help to the
customer constantly. SWA make sure their employees are trained well to deal with customers in a
positive manner. Instead of SWA only rewarding their more frequent customers, SWA reward all
customers whether frequent or not. SWA treats every customer the same for example for special
class customers southwest will not give them more legroom or reserved seats, which is good
because some customers cannot afford special class tickets, which is why southwest treat all
customers fairly. SWA train their employees to be very friendly and provide very good customer
service even if it means going out of their way; for example sometimes employees have allowed
customers to stay at their houses because they had to wait until morning to catch their flight, this
type of behaviour allows customers to feel welcomed and cared for which is why they will come
back to SWA. The decision for employees to take customers home is to allow the customers to be
comfortable instead of having to be uncomfortable at the airport and SWA gives employees the right
to do this(Shajahan,2008).
Employees are allowed to make a decision which they believe will deal with the problem their
customer is having, a situation happen where a customers missed their flight to get an organ
1
South west airline is an American airline which was established in 1967 with the market share of
18.1% in 2015 and in 2016 it was 18.3%.They are a very popular and liked airline mainly because of
how they treat their customers and they are also low priced. They only fly in the U.S and nearby the
U.S as they travel to 98 destinations across the United States and seven additional countries such
as Jamaica. They also have never had a loss in profit for 43 years and no other us airline has
matched this. Their share name on the stock market is LUV because of their appreciation for their
customers. When the 9/11 happened which was bombing in the US, every airline except SWA made
a loss in terms of profit, which shows SWA is a popular airline. Every American airline received
compensation from the US government except SWA because they did not want it. They have had
the most passengers boarding and they are the largest airline that have had this. They are a very
popular airline with 100 million customers yearly, 53,000 employees and 3,900 departures a day.
They have an outstanding customer service, which is why they are very known and liked. Their
mission statement speaks about being determined to providing excellent customer service and they
also aim to be friendly and welcoming (Southwest Airline, 2017).
In terms of relationship marketing and how SWA achieve their amazing service and deliver excellent
customer service, they do not offer first class upgrades, no reserved seating and no inflight movies,
by saving in this area, they may their flights cheap, which makes them one of the cheapest US
airlines. One of their important rules is to “Be nice and smile a lot”. They provide excellent customer
service by training their employees to be nice even the employees in the back office who are not in
contact with customers as much. They recruit people who can communicate well and care for
customers. South west airlines also make sure employees treat all customers the same which will
allow customers to feel welcomed and not singled out. Even though they make sure they provide
excellent customer service they also ensure their departures are on time which is important for
customers as they do not want to be delayed. By rewarding their staff for good customer service,
this will motivate the employees to provide even better customers service and SWA will benefit from
this. SWA train employees enough, so they know to act in the customer’s best interest so the
customer is satisfied and they offer prices which are good value for the money paid. SWA make
sure they provide a memorable experience with the customer, which will stay with the customer and
they will remember this experience next time they want to use the airline.
SWA provide excellent customer service by focusing on every aspect such as the experience of the
customer, the brand, product and interaction; making these aspects effective will allow the customer
to have a good experience, SWA make sure they provide a welcoming environment and employees
have to be knowledgeable about the service they offer in order for them to provide help to the
customer constantly. SWA make sure their employees are trained well to deal with customers in a
positive manner. Instead of SWA only rewarding their more frequent customers, SWA reward all
customers whether frequent or not. SWA treats every customer the same for example for special
class customers southwest will not give them more legroom or reserved seats, which is good
because some customers cannot afford special class tickets, which is why southwest treat all
customers fairly. SWA train their employees to be very friendly and provide very good customer
service even if it means going out of their way; for example sometimes employees have allowed
customers to stay at their houses because they had to wait until morning to catch their flight, this
type of behaviour allows customers to feel welcomed and cared for which is why they will come
back to SWA. The decision for employees to take customers home is to allow the customers to be
comfortable instead of having to be uncomfortable at the airport and SWA gives employees the right
to do this(Shajahan,2008).
Employees are allowed to make a decision which they believe will deal with the problem their
customer is having, a situation happen where a customers missed their flight to get an organ
1
