How American, Delta, United, Southwest Approach the Holidays

The travel industry spent much of 2022 selling passengers on its comeback. Now after a summer of staff shortages, delays and cancellations, airlines are trying to redirect passenger expectations in time for holiday travel. The outlook seemed far more promising earlier this year. Booking.com, Expedia, Turkish Airlines and Vrbo all bought Super Bowl ads, while the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) saw air passenger numbers increase 80% through June. But that comeback stumbled as inclement weather, a staff and pilot shortage, and the continued effects of Covid-19 on those depleted ranks contributed heavily to a logistical nightmare. BTS said nearly 21% of all flights during the first six months of 2022 were delayed, the worst airline performance since 2014—and 3.2% of all flights (106,000) were canceled outright. “A lot of times, airlines really can't help what's happening,” said Alex May, associate director of travel and hospitality at SaaS company and Delta and JetBlue partner Movable Ink. “There's a pilot shortage, and that's a large problem to solve and not something they can do quickly, and it's going to bleed into the holiday season.” For the airline industry, surviving this summer meant focusing on positives and finding the right messaging. Inclusion, in-flight entertainment, improved food and quiet airport lounges were all part of the airlines’ summer messaging, though industry experts pointed out it was nearly impossible—and perhaps imprudent—to completely overhaul summer, and now holiday, marketing campaigns set months in advance. "To market along the lines of 'Hey, we may not be on time, but we keep you entertained and fed even though we’re late' doesn’t seem to be an effective marketing message," said Michael Taylor, travel intelligence lead at J.D. Power. Heading into the holiday travel, airline executives are taking the lessons they learned about communicating with passengers—as well as distracting them a bit—and applying that to seasonal turbulence that's beyond their control. While they can't shift their entire marketing strategy, airlines can point passengers toward useful policies, enhanced customer-service features and upgraded perks and amenities. After the decorations come down, airlines' new tools and trinkets provide marketers and leisure passengers with gifts that will keep on giving long into the new year. Inclusion and incentives With the U.S. Travel Association expecting business travel's return in 2025 at the earliest, American Airlines is courting a leisure travel market that helped the airline bring in 13% more revenue in the third quarter of 2022 than it did at the same time in 2019—despite operating with nearly 10% less capacity. As part of that shift, American overhauled its AAdvantage loyalty program earlier this year to reduce its focus on business travelers and provide leisure passengers perks like free checked bags and airport lounge access. “It’s important to be there for the customers, but we like to set expectations,” said American’s chief customer officer, Alison Taylor. The airline also continued its efforts to elevate Black travelers in its marketing via "Let There Be No Limits," a summer campaign with Walton Isaacson, its creative agency of record. The campaign featured ads showing Black travelers on vacation, Black rewards members in lounges and Black pilots. American also added Black-owned snack and entertainment companies to its in-flight offerings. "This is something that we're not only putting our money where our mouth is—we're putting our resources, we're putting our people, we're putting our talent," said Dana Lawrence, American’s managing director of global brand marketing. Stressing the positives Earlier this year, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian wrote a letter to SkyMiles customers apologizing for delays and spelling out how the airline would improve. Heading into the holidays, the airline has hired more than 15,000 full-time workers since early 2021 and—like its competitors—will be bringing on seasonal airport help for the holiday crush. Molly Battin, who served as Delta’s svp of global brand marketing for much of the pandemic before becoming Home Depot CMO in September, said during her time working for the airline that she considers improvements Delta's made to the FlyDelta app throughout the summer months "a big differentiator and something that we're continuing to lean into, as we go into the holiday season and beyond." Delta, which used its Covid downtime in 2020 to recenter its marketing message around customers, will continue that approach during the holiday travel season, offering passengers an exclusive Jonas Brothers concert they can watch on planes, revamped premium seating and expanded routes to Europe. “It used to be that we just had to kind of inspire you,” Battin said. “Now it's really about being with you every step of the journey.” Moveable Ink's May said keeping passengers informed through emails, texts and tools like the FlyDelta app may be the most sound holiday marketing move airlines can make at this stage. "It's communicating early and often. People really do need to start planning now for holiday travel, because it is going to be probably unlike any other year," May said. "The brands that can execute that and communicate to their customers, wherever they are, are the brands that are going to win and really gain loyalty coming out of the holidays." Summer Snafus As passengers and airline marketers head into the busy holiday travel season, 2022 summer numbers from travel data firm Cirium show how the top four U.S. carriers have struggled with delays and cancellations. American Airlines Domestic market share: 18.1%Flights delayed: 22.6% Flights canceled: 4.4% Southwest Airlines Domestic market share: 17.1%Flights delayed: 29% Flights canceled: 1% Delta Air Lines Domestic market share: 17.1%Flights delayed: 16.9% Flights canceled: 3.1% United Airlines Domestic market share: 14.6%Flights delayed: 19% Flights canceled: 4.2% Dealing with delays When the industry faced poor weather at the end of the summer, former Southwest CMO and current evp and chief commercial officer Ryan Green said his airline opted for more delays to help limit cancellations. As a result, Southwest's July passenger count actually increased from pre-pandemic numbers despite an overall 2% decrease in summer capacity from 2019. Green's team was therefore able to focus on improved summer holiday performance, the elimination of expiration dates of flight credits and the addition of new Boeing aircraft and a new fare category with more booking flexibility. While those perks—combined with Southwest’s dearth of baggage and change fees—don’t solve every issue, they do address passenger concerns that are within Southwest’s control. “We take the approach of trying to underpromise and overdeliver, and being very transparent about the product you're purchasing and the experience you're going to get with Southwest,” Green said. “We're not perfect, but we try to deliver a consistent experience, and when we don't live up to our expectations with the customer, we try to make that right with them.” While the airlines can't go back and revise or overhaul this year's campaigns to reflect their struggles and those of their passengers, they can emphasize that they're working on making things better. Both Southwest and Delta representatives said their airlines placed greater emphasis on holiday hiring, with Battin noting that "everything that we've been doing through this summer to get us ready is going to really prepare us well for the holiday season." Long-term focus For some airlines, surviving this holiday season means sticking to the same message they've been sending passengers throughout their summer turbulence, focusing on long-term improvements over short-term snafus. Back in May, United and agency partner 72andSunny launched the airline’s first major campaign since 2013. Dubbed “Good Leads the Way,” the campaign addressed the pilot and staffing shortage head-on by showcasing its United Aviate Academy training school in Houston, its flight training center in Denver and its new in-flight training center that debuted this year in Houston. United vowed to hire more than 50,000 people in the next five years to unionized positions, with the intention of training 5,000 pilots alone by 2030, at least half of whom will be women and people of color. It’s also buying up more than 500 new aircraft by 2026 and has invested in electric aircraft, planning to reduce emissions by 100% by 2050 without using carbon offsets. “We have all been delayed in our flying experiences,” said Maggie Schmerin, United’s head of global advertising and social media. “There's really no point in us hiding that: We want to acknowledge that we're very aware of what the customer goes through, and it's really on us to point out tools that we have at United to make the travel experience the smoothest and best that we possibly can.”

Travel Advertising News

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Following setbacks, the industry hones a positive outlook for the busy season

Jason Notte

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Jason Notte