Airlines online out of line - News

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This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
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Airlines online out of line

By Byron Kaye, ZDNet Australia
August 30, 2001
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/soa/Airlines-online-out-of-line/0,139023165,120257886,00.htm

Unfriendly Web sites and poorly intergrated customer service could lead to the Australian airline industry's online demise, reports one Internet retail analyst.

Director of Melbourne-based etail market research firm Global Reviews, Dr Adir Shiffman, said most major Australian airlines failed to respond to any email enquiries submitted via their own Web sites.

He said customers wanting to inquire about ticket bookings made via the Internet were often obliged to phone airline customer service representatives who -didn't know anything about the Web site".

-You almost can't surpass that kind of damage to a brand," he said. Shiffman said the usability of most Australian airlines' Web sites was -well below the rest of the world".

Global Reviews conducts market research on Internet customer service based on around 400 quantifiable criteria.

Shiffman said many Web sites operated by overseas airlines delivered faster, and more thorough, customer service than other ticket sales channels.

He believes Australian airlines have been slow to develop comprehensive, user-friendly Web sites because Australian airlines rely heavily on travel agents to provide customer service. He said airline Web customer service was better in the US than in Australia because US airlines competed with travel agents for business.

Shiffman urged Australia's airlines needed to act immediately to improve their online customer service because most airlines had indicated -a preference for as automated a channel as possible".

Ansett recently launched a customer service -live chat" facility on its Web site, a facility the company's e-commerce vice president, Jochen Bonitz, said successfully serviced over 1000 customer enquiries in its first week of operation.

Bonitz said customer service representatives, operating via telephone or Internet, were able to access relevant information on all bookings - except for -Web specials" bookings.

-Web specials are by nature very inflexible," he said. -You can't change them and you can't refund them."