Analysis of EasyJet's Customer Feedback and Strategies for Improvement

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EASYJET AIRLINE COMPANY
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EASYJET AIRLINE COMPANY
Executive summary
The report has been developed over the services of EasyJet Airline Company. This British low-
cost airline has been known for its cheap rates of flight tickets. However, by the analysis
conducted over the online booking portals such as TripAdvisor and Trustpilot, it can be stated
that the passengers are complaining regarding a number of things and the rating of the
organisation is becoming poor. Therefore, some corrective measures have been suggested for the
organisation in this study, by analysing the difficulties and feedbacks. Moreover, the
implementation of the benchmarking tool for comparing the services with that of British Airways
has been used here for getting the perfect solutions of the problems.
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Present problems experienced by easyJet........................................................................................2
Capabilities and competencies of easyJet to improve quality.........................................................4
Impact of benchmarking on easyJet................................................................................................6
Recommendation:............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is one of the British low-cost airlines. The organisation serves
in more than 30 countries over 1000 routes. In not only the domestic services, but it also operates
in the international schedule services. The company has started their journey in 1995; however,
they have expanded their business through merger and acquisition with a number of companies
in the airline business. The reason behind the immense popularity of the organisation is that it
provides low-cost tickets for the passengers in the different domestic and international routes. In
terms of the number of carrying passengers, it is the second largest airline company after
Ryanair. However, the organisation has been alleged of providing poor services to their
customers and it has been told by a number of customers that they do not want to take any other
flight from this particular airlines. In spite of the negative reviews, the organisation is still
expanding its business. Therefore, the report is being developed for understanding the
shortcomings of the services provided by the company and implement the factors of the total
quality management for resolving the problems. The report will also assess the roots and the
potential solutions will be provided according to that.
Present problems experienced by easyJet
By observing the reviews, provided in TripAdvisor and Trustpilot, it has been seen that the
quality management system of the organisation is suffering from numerous issues and the
passengers are becoming the victims of the problems. The types of problems that the passengers
are suffering have been listed below:
Not maintain the schedule of the flight:
It is the major concern that the organisation has been suffering from. Delaying the flight has been
included in the common routine of the organisation. The passengers have complained that it has
been a common problem for the passengers, as they have to attend some programs or having
some emergencies as stated by Bazargan, (2016). Thus delaying in the flight is affecting their
schedule.
Sudden cancellation of flight:
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According to the feedbacks posted by the passengers in TripAdvisor and Trustpilot, it is evident
that in numerous cases, the organisation has to cancel their flights. Passengers alleged has
complained that the reason has been provided as “extraordinary circumstances” and they are
being informed that they are not been considered eligible for compensation. Moreover, they are
also not being offered with any substitute tickets. This sudden cancellation of the flights is
leading to the development of the expenses for the passengers, as opined by Belobaba et al.
(2015).
Overbooking in flight:
It has been seen from the online booking websites such as TripAdvisor and Trustpilot that the
organisation often cancels the boarding of the passengers by showing the reasons for the
overbooking. Many passengers have complained that the company has cancelled their flight even
after they had already done with the web check seven days ago. Thus, it can be considered that it
is the problem of the management that they could not be able to track the number of passengers.
Fight booking compensation:
It is the most mentioned problems that the passengers of easyJet have to suffer while boarding
with their flights. By reviewing the feedbacks in TripAdvisor and Trustpilot, it is seen that many
of the passengers have complained that the organisation has denied providing any compensation,
being it a substitute ticket or monetary compensation. Steven et al. (2017.) stated that according
to the regulation in the airline sector in the UK, it is the responsibility of the airline company to
provide all the expenses of the passenger, whether it is hotel cost or the flight cost. However,
from the reviews posted by the passengers that the organisation denies reimbursing any expenses
of the passenger in case of any sudden cancellation flights.
Not providing the right information to the passengers:
From the online booking websites like TripAdvisor and Trustpilot, it has been seen that easyJet
has been alleged of not providing the correct information to their clients. The passengers had
complained that the customer service executives of the organisation had provided them with the
wrong information when they wanted to know the status of their tickets and the flights. Apart
from these problems, Auerbach and Delfmann (2017) also contradicted that the customer service
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executives of the organisation also misled the passenger, as they were not available for solving
the problems.
Unprofessional crewmembers:
The passengers also provided the information that apart from the customer service executives of
the company; even the ground and cabin crew of the organisation are rude and unprofessional.
Not only refusing to help the passengers, they are also alleged of misbehaving with the
passengers with numerous issues.
Capabilities and competencies of easyJet to improve quality
By analysing the common problems that are affecting the organisational performance and the
service qualities for easyJet, it can be said that it is the schedule of the organisation that is
required to be improved. Moreover, the lack of professionalism is also there that have affected
the organisation and its services. Not maintain the scheduled time of the flight is leading the
cancellation of the flights. Thus, Bolton and Chapman, (2015), also stated that the consumers are
asking for the compensation. Moreover, the organisation is also avoiding the rules and regulation
of the airline industry by avoiding the compensation or reimbursement of extra expenses, as it
has been seen by Vatankhah et al. (2017). The dimensions of the service qualities are required to
be examined by the organisation in order to understand and evaluate the root cause of their
problems.
Reliability: The service provided by the organisation has been able to lose its reliability. It has
been seen that the organisation has failed to earn the reliability regarding the services provided to
its customers. By evaluating the reviews of the consumers in the different online portal, it can be
stated that in terms of reliability, the organisation has failed to impress their consumer. For
achieving the reliability in the services, Lorenz et al (2015) suggested that they have to provide
the right schedule to their customers ensuring that the flights would not be delayed and the
compensation would be provided to the customers in case of any flight cancellations.
Responsiveness: In terms of the responsiveness, the organisation was not been able to attain the
desired attention of the passengers. It is evident from the responses of the passengers that the
customer care executives of the organisation as well as the cabin and ground crew of the
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company have been alleged to provide wrong information to the customer. It is also can be stated
that the customer service executive of the organisation cannot assist the customers in spite of the
numerous attempts to connect with them, as stated by Chen (2016). Thus, in terms of
responsiveness also, the organisation has failed to mitigate the expectation of the passengers.
Assurance: It is expected that the organisation must assure their passengers regarding the right
schedule of time and in case any of delay or cancellation of the flights; they should assure their
passengers regarding any substitute option. However, in the case of the mentioned organisation,
easyJet, it is seen that none of the factors has been mitigated by the company, as opined by
Rapajic (2016). Neither the flights are on board in time, nor is the organisation arranging for any
substitute for the passengers in case of flight delay or cancellation. Moreover, they are not
assuring any monetary reimbursement for their passengers. Therefore, it is evident that in terms
of the assurance, easyJet cannot satisfy the passengers.
Empathy: For providing the passengers with the right services, it is required that the organisation
should pay respect and empathy to the passengers in case of the problems such as flight delay
and cancellation of flights. Moreover, the behaviour of the crews should be polite to the
passengers. On the contrary, it is evident from the review by the passengers that not only the
customer service executive but also the cabin and ground crew of the organisation are rude to the
passengers and instead of helping the passengers with the problems, they often provide them
with wrong information (Williams, 2017). It develops confusion and issues among the
passengers. The lack of empathy is evident in all the layer of the organisation, from management
and operation to customer care services.
Financial capabilities and competencies of the organisation: By analyzing the financial
capabilities of the organisation, it is seen that the management and operation of the organisation
are needed to be developed according to the financial capabilities of them. From the evaluation
of the new expenditure curve of the organisation, it is evident that the organisation is expanding
their performance and it is financial ability to expense, which is helping them in the expansion
process as opined by Zhang et al. (2018). Therefore, the organisational management has the
ability to spend on mitigating the problems that have been stated above.
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From the annual report of easyJet, it is seen that the revenue of the organisation in the current
financial year 2017-2018 is about £5,898 million and the net income of the organisation in the
same financial year is about £358 million. In 2017, the organisation has taken the lease of the 25
former Air Berlin A320 aircraft for running them in the European network of the organisation
(Goetz and Sutton, 2017). Apart from these, the financial capabilities of the organisation have
been seen in the frequent merger and acquisition of the different airlines since 2008. Although
they provide low cost air tickets to their passengers, it is seen that the development in the number
of passengers has been increased to 10.2% in the year than the previous years, as it has been seen
by Vatankhah et al. (2017). The record-breaking passenger strength has seen by the company in
the same financial year. Thus, it can be expected from the revenue and net income generated in
the current fiscal year, that the financial capabilities of the organisation is adequate to resolve the
problems that have been suffered by the people that board the flights of easyJet.
Staff competencies are another factor that should be looked after by the management of the
organisation. In many reviews, the cabin and ground crew of the organisation along with the
customer service executives has been alleged of being rude to the passengers and not helping
them with proper information. In order to increase the competency factor among the employees,
training and workshops can be organized by easyJet. These workshops and training session will
help the workers to understand the importance of empathy and polite behaviour towards the
passengers, as it has been supported by Chow, (2015). The passengers are not being treated
rudely and they should be provided with the right information to the passengers to help them out
in case of the problems such as sudden cancellation of flight and delay. For evaluating the staff
competencies in the organisation, apart from focusing on the right recruitment, the organisation
also look after the specific skill sets within them, which would ensure that they would be the
right choice for the organisation. In addition to the other mentioned factors, it was contradicted
by Button, (2017), it is needed that the organisation should be enlisting the functional expertise
of the employees while recruiting them. Performance appraisal would also be beneficial to
increase the competency of the employees.
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Impact of benchmarking on easyJet
For delivering consistent and effective quality management in the organisation like easyJet, the
quality management tools such as benchmarking can be implemented. For comparing the
products and total sales units of the organisation can be compared with the benchmarking tool to
understand and implement the best-demonstrated practice in the organisation. The reason behind
incorporating the benchmarking tool is that it helps to find examples of the superior performance
from other organisations and try to find out the reasons behind those superior performances, as
stated by Choi et al. (2015). The comparison with the superior production process and services
would also provide motivation for better development to the employees and the management.
The mentioned organisation, easyJet should compare their services with the other multinational
airline company such as British Airways in order to set the benchmark.
The advantages of benchmark: A number of advantages can be identified with the
implementation of the benchmarking factor to the organisation. The best practice in the airline
sector can be identified and the organisation would be able to implement those in order to
achieve their objectives and the best effort to attract the passengers. Another advantage of
implementing the benchmark is that it helps to generate information on how the organisation can
develop its performance with respect to their current performance and business objectives (Wu,
2016). On the other hand, the implementation of the benchmarking would also ensure that all the
employees in the organisation would accept the changes that are to be implemented in the
organisation and the restriction to the changes would not be accepted. Thus, the performances
generated by the organisation would be developed.
Recommendation:
In order to develop the performances of the company, some recommendation can be stated:
 Benchmarking of the performance and the services of the organisation should be
compared with that of the British Airways
 The workshop and the training of the employees can be arranged to improve their
performance and approach towards the consumers
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 Financial capabilities should be used for managing the organisational development and
to mitigate customer problems that have been recently developed among the consumers
 The performance appraisal should be allocated to the employees to motivate them to
improve their performance
 The coupons and other intrinsic motivational factors can be offered to the regular
passengers to increase their number of fleets
Conclusion
In order to sum up the entire report, it can be stated that the EasyJet Airline Company Limited
requires developing their whole management system in order to improve their operational
efficiency and impress the clients. For understanding the factors that are affecting the passengers
of the organisation, it is needed that the online booking portals and websites such as TripAdvisor
and Trustpilot should be reviewed. On the other hand, the organisation should conduct
workshops and training session for increasing competencies among their employees. They
should also have to make sure that the delaying the flights and sudden cancellation of the flights
should be avoided as most of the customers has complained about this. Apart from all these
factors, the organisation should make it sure that the passengers should be provided with the
practices such as reimbursement of the expenses that they have to bear in case of any flight delay
or sudden cancellation of flights. It is the responsibility of the organisation to make sure that
these problems should be adequately mitigated. Therefore, it can be stated that their management
would achieve the development of the organisation if they can mitigate all the identified
problems with the help of the proper implementation of the benchmarking tool.
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References
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Bazargan, M., 2016. Airline operations and scheduling. Routledge.
Belobaba, P., Odoni, A. and Barnhart, C. eds., 2015. The global airline industry. John Wiley &
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Bolton, R.N. and Chapman, R.G., 2015. The Structure of Customer Complaint Behavior in the
Airline Industry. In Proceedings of the 1989 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual
Conference (pp. 546-551). Springer, Cham.
Button, K., 2017. Airline deregulation: international experiences. Routledge.
Chen, I.S., 2016. A combined MCDM model based on DEMATEL and ANP for the selection of
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Goetz, A.R. and Sutton, C.J., 2017. US Airline Industry. Low Cost Carriers:" Emergence,
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Lorenz, M.P., Johnson, C.M. and Barakat, L.L., 2017. An exploration of frequent service failures
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Rapajic, J., 2016. Beyond airline disruptions. Routledge.
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intentions–the case of Pakistan airline industry. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and
Logistics, 29(5), pp.1136-1159.
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Wu, C.L., 2016. Airline operations and delay management: insights from airline economics,
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