Loose Cannon: Web 2.0, Meet World 2.0

Web 2.0’s hallmark – consumers taking over the online marketing process -- is spilling over into real life, if a recent incident is any indication.

In late June, 52 airline passengers in China refused to deplane after their flight didn’t take off. After the passengers stayed on the plane for nearly nine hours, the airline booked them en masse on another flight.

This was similar to Web 2.0 in the customers’ expectation that they, and not the marketer, were in control of the experience. If this is, in fact, an offline trend and not an anomaly, expect a lot more conflicts as consumers exercise influence in a variety of in-person situations.

Now consider frequent flier programs. Of late, miles have become ubiquitous and airlines have cut back the number of seats available with which to reward participants. This is a recipe for customer frustration.

AApplause, a two-year-old program from American Airlines, gives fliers influence over at least one aspect of their experience: The quality of service they receive. (American is awfully fond of attaching double “a”s to its branded programs, such as AApplause, AAdvantage or AAngels, American’s flight attendants. It is less aapt to do so with concepts such as AArrival delays.)

Here’s how AApplause works. Top American Airlines AAdvantage program participants are given a small number of recognition coupons with their mileage statements. When they receive exceptional service from an airline employee, participants write their own name, program number and flight number, along with the employee’s name and ID number, on the coupons. These coupons translate into chances for the American employee to win 20,000 frequent flier miles.

AApplause isn’t nearly as generous as SOS (SomeOne Special) a forerunner effort American axed several years ago, quite possibly when the carrier realized “S.O.S.” is a poor choice of acronyms for a rewards program. Under that program, coupons could be turned in for gift cards, and there are tales of flight attendants earning washer/dryer combinations, or items from housing supply stores, as a result of their outstanding service.

With a little tweaking, AApplause could eventually give frequent fliers more of a sense of ownership of American – or, indeed, any carrier that adopts a program like it. And truly savvy airlines might figure out ways to reward both employees and passengers, such as by matching whatever prize is won by an employee with a similar reward for one of the passengers who recommended the employee.

Is the system abused? You bet. Fliers do cut deals with flight attendants, offering to swap AApplause coupons in return for being jumped to the head of upgrade lines, for instance, or for extra drinks or other amenities. And these abuses will continue. But they’ll be offset by a sense of ownership by customers, a sense of “I do have some say in the quality of this product.”

Ownership is a hell of a reward. And unlike increasingly unavailable airplane seats, it’s perpetually available to fliers.

To respond to the opinions in this column, please contact richard.levey@penton.com