The true needs of airline passengers is an important area of discussion for airlines when trying to improve customer satisfaction but a new report into the more specific needs of business travellers by the German Travel Association is trying to help companies appreciate the needs of their management and other professionals when they are travelling for business. The survey asked individuals that fly for business reasons on a regular basis, from high-end directors to lower-level employees, to rank their top five priorities for travel; interestingly, despite their apparent importance, the costs of the journies – both in terms of the airfare and other fees and charges – came at the bottom of the list, third was personal preferences on the choice of airlines and hotel chains, second was the punctuality of the flight and the number one concern was safety. It seems business travellers would much rather get to their destination safely and on time than on a cheap route.
Perhaps it is worth paying more and turning away from the need for low cost flights to ensure that these top two passenger priorities are met?
The results of this survey show the importance of taking note of traveller opinions, particularly for the company arranging to send them away, because they can then cater for the needs of their employees and not base plans on assumptions. In doing so, they could end up with happier, more productive staff because they felt safer and had the genuine pleasure of a punctual flight. Cheaper travel may seem to be best for business from a financial point of view, and low costs are still an important factor to many business travellers, but would these travellers happily give up some of these lower fees and the lack of extra fees to be free of the delays that come on some of these budget flights and the lack of safety that some apparently feel in these LCC aircraft?