Last week was the first time I experienced Air Asia and the experience was a disaster. As a B2C brand, at CashKaro, we obsess daily about achieving exceptional customer experience and here was a huge brand that kept missing the mark every time. To take a few simple examples:

1. Check-in fiasco – while booking on MMT we probably completely missed that we need to buy luggage allowance separately. Nothing was mentioned on the MMT tickets also, so imagine getting to the check-in counter and being asked to pay $200 more. I was thinking, that was the price difference for Singapore Airlines vs Air Asia – what a mistake. We escalated to a senior manager, who just lacked any sense of empathy. He agreed that MMT’s ticket does not mention this, but was rigid. I was a first time customer and now a last time customer.

What could they have done better? People handling escalations need to be trained better and be empowered. I think if Air Asia had given this person ability to move a little from rigid policies he could have made a compromise. A slight waiver would have gone a long way to win us over. Outcome – I would only travel Air Asia grudgingly but moreover, I would try my best to dissuade others from Air Asia. They didn’t just lose me, but perhaps many in my network also.

Lesson for CashKaro: Customer Support needs to be empowered to make decisions. A company’s main focus has to be customer. When something goes wrong, and things do, we at CashKaro, need to see how a user can feel that a fair outcome was reached. Let the benefit of doubt go to the user. This way you build trust and loyalty. Referral is a powerful weapon, but it works both ways.

2. Obsessive selling in-flight – like all flights, the first announcement for duty free products being sold on the flight was normal. But then things turn Indian-railway station like. During a 3 hour flight, they announced products being sold 12 times. They would mention individual perfumes and kept pushing how this is the cheapest place to buy. This works nicely for CashKaro as a deal site, but even there we try to add more suave and class. This was a fish market. I looked around clearly everyone was bothered, but the mandate from the top was SELL-SELL-SELL. Now I was also annoyed from Check-in so this just got me more annoyed!

What they could have done better? One, maybe two announcements would have done the job and its normal in flights. But someone at the top only thought how to sell more, but forgot the main revenue is airfares and not perfume sales. By such antics, you might lose the customer itself, so who will buy the perfume?

Lessons for CashKaro: User experience and knowing when to sell is critical. For this reason we have not introduced any Ads on CashKaro. Yes, we can make more money, but this fundamentally takes away from our user experience. I am not saying we shall never do it, but it cannot ruin the main experience, where I risk a customer coming to CashKaro for their Cashback in the first place

3. The Hot-Cold Water experience – on our last leg we were on a massive Airbus. I was not expecting free anything by now, but the guy next to me asked for water. Wow – that seemed free so I also asked for the same. What came back was HOT BOILING WATER. The flight attendant said, if you want water I can only serve boiling water, else you can buy a bottle. The guy next to me and I shared a look, and I knew he was also thinking – WTF. But Swati, the eternal optimist found a teabag in her purse and we had tea. Alls well that boils well.

What they could have done better? I get this is meant to be a low cost flight. But even Indigo serves free water. I think top management have lost touch with the customer and have gotten their basic policies wrong. Plus a 6 hour flight is different from a 2 hour flight. People buy food on flights and many including us bought food. But to charge 20-30K for the flight per seat and not even serve water seemed like too much greed. Shylock would have been proud!

Lessons for CashKaro: I think people really like the ‘dhaniya / mirchi free world’, perhaps more so as Indians. I am sure we have all seen our mums shop for veggies and ask for the dhaniya free. Decision and policy makes need to keep getting feedback from users. Often it is small things that drive a user away. Things that don’t make for board meetings, but are often equally or more important

In the end, Air Asia lost of customer forever. I am also certain this cannot be my experience alone. If price is the only way to grow, then gains are short lived. At CashKaro, while we know our Cashback needs to be great, I think we can retain and even win over competition if we keep customer centricity at the centre of everything!