Al Waterloo - Now Proudly Serving Starbucks

What would make you proud to ride on a particular airline?  Would that be, perhaps, the coffee they serve onboard?  I doubt it.

So, an airline  "proudly" serves Starbucks on board all their domestic AND international flights. Does that make them your favorite airlines?  Let’s be honest with ourselves, you don’t book your flight because of the onboard coffee being served.  The airlines are doing it wrong!  They have forgotten how to serve their customers.

Look at Starbucks.  Starbucks is more than just coffee. In fact people probably don't even really go Starbucks because of their awesome coffee. They go for other reasons, like me. I absolutely love Starbucks. I am proud to say that I go almost every day and it’s not for coffee (well sort of). If I were to place a theme on the experience on Starbucks it would be "Always Making It Right, with Genuine Effect." When was the last time you felt that your favorite airline "made it right" and meant it? We'll get back to this......

I may be crazy, but I see the baristas working much like an Airline Crew. If you've ever been part of an airline crew, it’s a lot of fun with the right people. Having been part of a great airline crew, I see myself, conversely, working with my favorite Baristas at the Starbucks in Forest Park! 7231 Madison Street  Forest Park, IL 60130. Their interaction triggers some amazing memories from when I was working for a pilot at an Airline. The personal interaction between baristas is exactly the way pilots and flight attendants work together. The Starbucks crew is making your drink exactly the way you want it. The same can be said about a good flight crew -- making your flight exactly the way you want it. At the end of the day, my absolute favorite Starbucks crew makes me want to let them know that they are my favorite. I bet you have told a pilot or flight attendant "Nice flight" or "Great landing!" It’s the same thing!

The Starbucks product is ultimately a lifestyle, not coffee. It has its own circadian rhythm. The first people to show up for coffee are the early bird exercisers getting a “cup o' Joe” on the way back from their morning run. Next, between 7:30 and 8:45 am, you'll see people going to work stop in and grab coffee for their commute to work. It is relatively calm around 9 am, but then at 10 am all the "Starbucks Coffee House Meetings Start." People do business here, they meet here, they have fun here. Starbucks is a lifestyle choice.  Can the same be said about the airlines? Not really.

The airline experience used to be a huge lifestyle choice. Today, flying on an airliner is a commodity, and a  bummer.   If an airline could, once again, make their service, and your flight experience, a lifestyle choice, they wouldn’t need to advertise how they serve Starbucks coffee on their flights. You would prefer to book your flight on their planes to avoid the humdrum cattle-herding process expected of today’s travelers on other airlines.  Heck, they could make flying on the airlines fun again. So, even though an airline "Proudly serves Starbucks" it doesn't make them a better airline. Today’s airlines seem to miss the point about every aspect of the “Starbucks product”. How do we make our airline and flight experiences better? Ever notice how busy Starbucks stores are at airports? Coffee drinkers make huge lines at these Starbucks for a refreshing burst of “comfort”.  But the airport and airline experience are hectic outside your favorite Starbucks located next to Gate B7. Everybody has helped created this problem.  How can we find a solution?  Can you find the answer?

What would make you proud to ride on an airline? 

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