Come fly with me
- Quentin Boyes
- Jul 15, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Sep 23, 2024
Yet again I have just passed through an airport muttering I must never come through one of these again. I did try to avoid it when we booked the holiday but the cost of getting the train to Spain was 3x the cost of the flight, and for 3 people unjustifiable, even to this eco-warrior.
But that’s another rant for another day – sustainable travel options.
Anyway, I’ll share.
So, we arrive at a building site of a car park, via some replica of spaghetti junction, peering for signs to “Meet & Greet”, dump the car, queue, imbecilic conversation with Customs & Excise Officers about an Uzi disguised as a hair dryer, try to find seats for 3 together with some power to wait, faff with internet, receive diddly squat information about subsequent flight delays, or any apologies, queue again, passport again, queue in the stairways to board, nowhere to put cabin luggage which ends up halfway down the plane defeating the objective of having legroom seats at the front, sit on runway admiring the view, free back massage from kids behind which is always nice, decline sugar and salt offering, arrive late, haggle with car rental to both upgrade and reduce the amount of deposit they stash for a week on the off chance I have a bash, drive for a couple of hours, stock up at Carrefours for the night and morning ahead, collapse into villa and then into a bottle of Gin, which, thank God, I wasn’t stupid enough to buy in the airport, and so saved myself about 30%, avoiding the exceptional Tax & Duty Free offer, greedily offset with a massive markup, sleep grumpily.
This can’t go on.
Carbon-fuelled travel will have to be curtailed, the masses aren’t going to blindly buy into the offsetting promise, and climate change triggered disasters are only going to happen more often, impacting more people, more visibly and more horribly. Affluent people will make concerted efforts to change their behaviour and purchasing habits. Business travel will slowly decline as corporates see their social licence to operate curl at the edges.
So, what’s going to happen to air travel? Well, my prediction is it becomes significantly more expensive and only affordable to older, more affluent consumers or business executives with a plausible rationale.
Will either of these customers want to experience anything close to that described above when paying a premium?
No.
Should airports and airlines be working on the art of the possible regards the travel experience in this context, having a chat with the odd affluent boomer, piloting innovative, new terminal experiences and services, crafting messaging that is believable and acceptable around carbon fuelled travel in the context of sustainability issues?
Probably.
Can Humbug help?
Definitely.
We have a fab, unique process for engaging with 56+ year-olds about their opinions, wants and needs. It’s explained on our website here.
It will generate insights to fly some pilots in a jiffy!
And won’t cost a fortune.
We also have a bit of experience in the travel and leisure sector to draw on, having worked with the likes of British Airports Authority (World Duty Free), several airports on brand, CX retail and research projects including Heathrow, Gatwick, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Luton and Stansted; other airport/inflight operators/service providers including Budget-Rent-A-Car, Harrods, Elemis and a load of other travel and leisure sector businesses such as Archers Direct, Bahamas Tourist Office, Caledonian MacBrayne (ferries), Compagnie Des Alpes, Cosmos Travel, Cross Country Trains, Club 18-30, Days Inn, Eurotunnel Express, Edwardian Hotels, Gatwick Express, GNER, Heathrow Express, Hoverspeed, LVMH, Maybourne Hotel Group, National Rail, Savoy Hotel Group, South Eastern Railway, Sunsail Holidays, TNT, Travel Inn, Selfridges, wake up, and even Welcome Break.
Here's a quick 'n dirty Q for you. How was your last airport experience when going on a leisure trip? Give a score 0-5 where 5 is 'absolutely spot on'...
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