Airlines....

A great case-study for organizational excellence can be found in the Airline industry. While stalwarts such as United were going bankrupt, two success stories were being created: Southwest airlines and Jetblue airlines. (I am a big fan of both airlines as I travel on them regularly for work).

Jetblue has really good customer service: They show that right from the start when you begin to book the ticket. Standard cheap fares, a user-friendly website, and exceptional service if booking on phone. I was amazed at the great service they provided to my mother who doesnt speak English and was travelling alone, by assisting her during boarding and follow through to the baggage claim area.

Similarly Southwest has great promotions: cheap fares, extremely good customer service and ability to change flight timings at really short notice, printing boarding pass before flight, and other great inititiaves.

The bottomline: PROFITS..translated not from gloassy marketing campaigns, but winning customers like you and me, using the human approach, reaching out one at a time. I really commend the management of both Southwest and Jetblue for doing such a good job with an otherwise hardhit Airline industry.

In India, a similar transformation has emerged, after people got disenchated with the poor service from Indian Airlines. Now there is a choice of two domestic airlines: Sahara and Jet Airways. These airlines have changed the face of domestic travel in India in a very short time span. Extremely courteous, puntual, great food (I travelled in Jet airways and was surprised that we got Ice cream during the flight).. things which didnt exist when Indian Airlines had the monopoly.