Experienced Service Experience in Airline Industry

Running Head: Service Marketing Service Marketing Page | 1 Service Marketing Description of the Service Experienced Service encounter is a very useful when it comes to evaluating the service of any company. The customer support team was warm, courteous and extremely humble, they understood that I am travelling with the patient and cooperated with me and ensured that they would not fly, I was running just 5 minutes late, however I made in time.

Running Head: Service Marketing
Service Marketing

Service Marketing P a g e | 1
Description of the Service Experienced
Service encounter is a very useful when it comes to evaluating the service of any
company. This factor becomes more strategical in Airline industry because the time
spent by the consumer in his entire journey is significantly a lot in comparison to other
industries (Saleem, Zahra & Yaseen, 2017). I was travelling a few months back from
New Delhi (India) to Sydney by Qantas airline, and it was one of the most satisfying
experiences for me and my family members. I was travelling with my mother who is
suffering from acute cervical cancer, and we were going for better treatment facility
which was available in Sydney.
I booked the flight through the application of the Airline Company, which was very easy
to navigate, offered me 10% discount and in less than 3 minutes I was done with the
booking confirmation. This was my first service encounter with the company, and it was
extremely pleasant because of the time factor. Second when I reached the Airport, I was
running a little behind my flight timing, the team from Qantas called me and asked
about my whereabouts. The customer support team was warm, courteous and
extremely humble, they understood that I am travelling with the patient and cooperated
with me and ensured that they would not fly, I was running just 5 minutes late, however
I made in time. But, the assurance the customer support offered me was beyond
overwhelming and I thanked them deeply for being so empathetic. They offered my
mother a wheelchair and gave a personal assistance to take her to the flight; it further
gave me a feeling of immense satisfaction. On our way to the flight as well, they offered
complementary juice to my mother and me to beat the heat strokes of Delhi, it further
boasted my confidence in the extremely high service quality of Qantas Airline.
On reaching the flight, we were received in a warm manner and comfortably taken to
our seats. Throughout the journey, the Cabin Crew was polite, helpful and helped my
mother in the washroom. Without even asking we were provided an extra set of blanket
and pillows to comfort my mother. I was more than just relaxed and happy to see that in
the present day when companies are running blindly money, Qantas Airline is one such
company which ensures that it runs to ensure high customer satisfaction, rest other
things would fall in place.

Service Marketing P a g e | 2
Discussion of Relevant Service Marketing Theories
Every service provides wants to know in depth what the customer cares about, and
what service element clicks to him to ensure customer satisfaction. Companies have
become extremely cogent in defining their service elements to ensure customer delight
for their service experience (Galeeva, 2016). One such model which is very helpful in
defining and evaluating the services of any company, in this case of the Qantas Airline is
RATER model. RATER model is a comprehensive tool of evaluating and classifying the
service of any company according to the five parameters (Gandhi, Sachdeva & Gupta,
2018).
 Reliability
 Assurance
 Tangibles
 Empathy
 Responsiveness
(Source: Luke & Heyns, 2017)
The model is a great framework which focuses on the difference between the customer
experiences and customer expectations.

Service Marketing P a g e | 3
Service Parameter Implied Meaning
R-Reliability This is concerned with the ability of the
company to provide and deliver the agreed
upon services consistently and on time
(Goyal & Chanda, 2017).
A-Assurance This is related to how convincingly
customer communicates his knowledge to
the customers, and how the customer
trust, feel and respond to the assurance
given by the employees(Oh & Kim, 2017)
T-Tangibles This is related to the appearance of the
physical facilities, equipment, personal,
website and other communication
material (Gera, Mittal, Prasad & Batra,
2017).
E-Empathy It is related to the deeper understanding of
the customer’s concern by putting
themselves in the shoes of the
customers(Orel & Kara, 2014)
R-Responsiveness This is how quick the organization is to
respond to the query of the customer and
give him the solution (Bienstock, Mentzer
& Kahn, 2015).
SERVQUAL Model
SERVQAUL model is another important framework which is used to evaluate the service
quality performance with customer service quality needs. It is used to do a gap analysis
and takes into account the perceptions of the customers of the relative importance of
the service attributes.
(Source: Izogo & Ogba, 2015)

Service Marketing P a g e | 4
The five gaps which were identified through the SERVQAUL method, which helps in
understand the gap in meeting the customer expectation in tandem with his overall
experience are:
Customer Expectation (Gap 1)-The first gap is also called as the management
perception gap, here the management fails to understand the customer and has wrong
perception on what he wants. The reason for the gap is lack of customer and market
focus (Bansal & Taylor, 2015).
Service Quality Expectation Gap (Gap 2)-This gap is specifically related to the aspects
of service design, this gap arises when the management is not able to translate customer
expectation into service quality attributes (Hill & Alexander, 2017).
Service Delivery Gap (Gap 3)-This is related to the inability of the staff to ensure
delivery of high quality service.
External Communication Gap (Gap 4)-This is the gap which is related to the external
communication to the consumers on the service delivery and the actual service delivery.
Difference between customer expectation and perception of service quality actually
received, this is the fifth gap which is the summation of all the above mentioned 4 gaps.
Analyse and Evaluate the Services Experienced
The above discussed framework is very helpful in evaluating the service I received at
Qantas Airline. In the following section I will discuss the enriched service quality
experience I received by the employee and the entire organization. To, concise my
experience with the Airline was highly enriched and satisfying.
RATER model for Evaluation of Services
Reliability-Qantas Airline is synonymous to great value, excellent service and trusted
advice, I strongly relates to these service attribute of the company. The company has
built a reputation for providing safety, operational excellence and strongest customer

Service Marketing P a g e | 5
support to the consumers. The reliability to me can be evaluated by the timely arrival
and departure of the flight along with exceptional food and care in the Aircraft. The staff
promised me to rely on them in taking care of my mother, for which I am eternally
grateful
Assurance-Qantas Airline invoked trust and confidence in me by their knowledge and
wisdom. The moment I called them that I am running a bit late, and the reason behind
them, they expressed the concern for the safety of my mom and assured me that they
will not fly without me. This inspired trust and confidence in me
Tangibility-I was delighted to see the employees properly groomed in neat attire even
at 2 AM in the morning, it literally gave me a feeling of high professionalism in Qantas
Airlines. Further to that the baggage area, the ticketing counter all were organized
neatly. The wheelchair which escorted my mother to the aircraft was tech advanced and
the Aircraft interiors just gave me a feeling of WOW.
Empathy-Qantas Airline was highly receptive to my concern that I might be a little late
because of my ailing mother, they emphasized with me even at such late hours. They
were kind enough to arrange for a wheelchair for my mother in advance as they
predicted she would require so. More so, they were empathetic to understand that my
mother would feel comfort with more pillows which they gave us without even asking.
Responsiveness- Qantas airline was highly responsive to my troubles, they responded
to me quickly when I informed I might be late, responsiveness was also shown when I
asked for different food for my mother. Also, they responded in the shortest span of
time to arrange a wheelchair even on reaching Sydney and booking a cab for us.
SERVQAUL Experience Analysis
Consumer expectation-Management Perception Gap- Qantas Airline has done its
homework pretty well, they know exactly what the customer requires to be delighted.
They are highly focussed on in-flight comfort, food and beverage, quality and pricing of
the food offered.
Service quality Specification Gap- The service design of Qantas was aptly designed
and was translated according to the expectation of the customers. Assistance when

Service Marketing P a g e | 6
required, proactive helping approach, brilliant infrastructures and highly co-operative
staff is the evidence of this.
Service-Delivery Gap-Only a human and understand a human, Qantas Airline ensure
this by recruiting such able staff which has high human and moral values and value the
customers. The support extended by the staff is beyond any words.
External Communication Gap- Qantas Airline does exactly what it communicates to its
customers. They communicated high value offering, extremely comfortable flight
experience, timely arrival and departure and great quality food and services, they
delivered all this without a single hiccup.
Overall, I would like to give the company a rating of 5/5 for their exceptional services,
high quality food and beverage, excellent in-flight services, helpful and empathetic cabin
and ground crew, safety and their communication with the customers.
Recommendation and Implementation
I am a happy customer and in all praise for Qantas Airline, some of the recommendation
which I would love to pass to other service organization is:
Listening to the Customers- In the present days, not everyone is focussed on listening,
the world has become competitive and so have the industries. The important part is to
listen to the customer, what are their expectations, what are their pain points, what do
they value the most and more such points. A company by actively listening to its
customer can create a service design which is so resolute and strong that it becomes
easier for the service company to acquire and retain a large chunk of customer and
make them happy with their services. This has to be ensured and implemented by the
marketing research team and the customer support staff, and can be done with the help
of Questionnaire, feedback and suggestions from the customers.
Being helpful and active on Social Media- Social media is the Buzzword for decades,
companies have started leveraging the tool at its maximum potential, and however in
the race they fail to adhere to the most important service attribute; be specific, highly
relevant, communicate the necessary information and are helpful. Qantas does a

Service Marketing P a g e | 7
wonderful job at this front. Other Airline companies should also understand the
importance of social media to handle the concerns and grievances of the customers, do
active social media listening, sentimental analysis and be helpful and empathetic to
them. This can be implemented by hiring 4-5 members and forming a social media team
within the organization, the cost would be highly in budget of the company.
Exceeding customer expectation every single time- Marketing Myopia is a very
dangerous concept, it means having a short sighted approach and forgetting about the
long term. Service companies have to ensure that they focus on business sustainability
and always deliver more than they promised. Customer are the biggest brand advocates
and have huge influence on other customers, by exceeding their expectation they would
definitely spread a positive word of mouth about the company which will ensure
increased revenue for the company. This can be ensured by apt communication with the
customers, ensuring the right elements of the service design and hiring a team of
customer service expert who have the ability to understand and empathize with the
customers.

Service Marketing P a g e | 8
References
Bansal, H.S. and Taylor, S.F., 2015. Beyond service quality and customer satisfaction:
investigating additional antecedents of service provider switching intentions.
In Proceedings of the 1999 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference (pp.
75-82). Springer, Cham.
Bienstock, C.C., Mentzer, J.T. and Kahn, K.B., 2015. How are service firms measuring and
managing service quality/customer satisfaction?. In Proceedings of the 1996 Academy of
Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference(pp. 161-161). Springer, Cham.
Galeeva, R.B., 2016. SERVQUAL application and adaptation for educational service
quality assessments in Russian higher education. Quality Assurance in Education, 24(3),
pp.329-348.
Gandhi, S.K., Sachdeva, A. and Gupta, A., 2018. Service Quality Models: A Critical Analysis
About Their Relevance to Supply Chains of Small-Medium Manufacturing Units. IUP
Journal of Supply Chain Management, 15(1), pp.7-39.
Gera, R., Mittal, S., Batra, D.K. and Prasad, B., 2017. Evaluating the Effects of Service
Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Service Value on Behavioral Intentions with Life
Insurance Customers in India. International Journal of Service Science, Management,
Engineering, and Technology (IJSSMET), 8(3), pp.1-20.
Goyal, P. and Chanda, U., 2017. A Bayesian Network Model on the association between
CSR, perceived service quality and customer loyalty in Indian Banking
Industry. Sustainable Production and Consumption, 10, pp.50-65.
Hill, N. and Alexander, J., 2017. The handbook of customer satisfaction and loyalty
measurement. Routledge.
Izogo, E.E. and Ogba, I.E., 2015. Service quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty in
automobile repair services sector. International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, 32(3), pp.250-269.

Service Marketing P a g e | 9
Luke, R. and Heyns, G., 2017. Measuring commuters perceptions of service quality of
selected public bus services in the City of Johannesburg. Southern African Transport
Conference.
Oh, H. and Kim, K., 2017. Customer satisfaction, service quality, and customer value:
years 2000-2015. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 29(1),
pp.2-29.
Orel, F.D. and Kara, A., 2014. Supermarket self-checkout service quality, customer
satisfaction, and loyalty: Empirical evidence from an emerging market. Journal of
Retailing and Consumer Services, 21(2), pp.118-129.
Saleem, M.A., Zahra, S. and Yaseen, A., 2017. Impact of service quality and trust on
repurchase intentions–the case of Pakistan airline industry. Asia Pacific Journal of
Marketing and Logistics, 29(5), pp.1136-1159.
.

Service Marketing P a g e | 10