Those of you who keep a business ear to the ground will know that South African Airways are in a spot of bother. They are haemorrhaging money at a rate of knots and have even assembled a so-called ‘war cabinet’ to undertake a 90-day turnaround plan.

They also appealed to other members of the SA travel industry for some support through a message from SAA Regional General Manager for Market RSA Ray Nkwe .

Stephen Ekbergh, the CEO of the hugely successful TravelStart, didn’t exactly extend an olive branch or helping hand. Below is his rather scathing reply, courtesy of Traveller 24:

Dear Ray

“Thanks for your letter sent 31 Dec with regards to the current and ongoing situation at SAA.

“I appreciate you reaching out like you did in the letter.

“Unfortunately, I can’t agree with most things you say in your letter. If SAA was so respected in the world you wouldn’t have the problems you have had the last 15 years.

“I would like to give some advice how you could turn around the airline in a short time.

“I’m the founder and CEO of Travelstart. We are Africa’s largest OTA, established in 1999, in Scandinavia with operation starting in ZA in 2006. For the past 15 years we have been servicing tens of millions of customers.

“We are one of your top performing agents in the country.

“Personally, I used to be a very loyal member in the Voyager program. As it is, I’m doing everything I can to avoid giving SAA any money nowadays. So I rather go via Dubai when I travel to most of your African destinations.

“I know I’m not the only one that feels this way.

“SAA used to be one of the great airlines of the world and I want it to regain its status again.

“So here is some advice from an insider of 30 years.

“LOYAL CUSTOMERS

“First focus on your most loyal customer.

“The Voyager members are your low hanging fruit and making them into raving fans should be your priority. Make it easier to redeem miles and upgrade. Do NOT have different fare classes for voyager upgradable and not. Rather charge more miles for an upgrade than charging more money.

“Stop charging more taxes when you want to upgrade using miles.

“In short make it simple for people to redeem their miles, even on board. Learn from Lufthansa and Emirates.

“SAA does everything the exact opposite. Frequent travellers are cheated fooled and generally treated like complete idiots and just as a source of squeezing money out of a monopoly situation.

“Treat customers with respect.

“WEBSITE

“Make the website easier to use. Make booking easier via a simpler user interface. Make it easier to retrieve and change bookings. Learn from the best: American carriers, Emirates etc.

“Tips! People don’t read on websites, make it more intuitive. Study our website: travelstart.co.za

“CUSTOMER SERVICE

“Make it easy for people to get hold of SAA. Now people have to wait until office hours for reservations. Voyager member cannot get hold of customer service except week days, as far as I remember.

“Have customer service staff who speaks good English.

“Use social media more, use twitter, facebook.

“FRONT LINE

“Change to company culture. SAA staff at airports treat you normally like you’re a criminal and a burden.

“JNB is of course, as always, the worst place on earth and I do everything I can to avoid that airport.

“Set a new goal to become the best carrier in the world. Communicate this to everyone.

“Empower every front line employee to give the best service possible, from customer service, to ground staff, stewards etc.

“They are your champions and the people we see and meet. These people must be obsessed about SAA and your values.

“These should be your best friends. EMPOWER them to give great service and they WILL do the job.

“Some other tips:

“Hire the best communications manager you can find! Get one who speaks layman talk not corporate lingo (like in the letter you just sent).

“Hire a new advertising agency, but only once you’ve got everything right.

“Lower your international fares, they are not competitive at all. They must be slashed.

“Instil a frugal culture in the company. Fire the middle management.

“Frugality is everything in an operational business as an airline.

“Faster turnaround times. Get the on board crew to do more tasks.

“Skip tax free on board. Sell it online instead.

“Can the inflight magazine. Let a 3rd party do it instead and get them to pay to deliver the magazine on board.

“Open up non-stop lines btw CPT and London again.

“More frequency to African cities. Africa = low hanging fruit.

“In short, fastest way to improve focus on voyager member and programme – lower fares and up the service – empower your staff.

“Let me know if I can assist with anything else?

“Stephan Ekbergh

“Funder and CEO of Travelstart”

Of course whether or not SAA chooses to heed any of Stephan’s advice is anyone’s guess. If we use our top politicians as a barometer the advice will probably fall on deaf ears, followed by a healthy dose of name-calling of course.

[source:traveller24]