How can a business improve customer satisfaction, reduce customer anxiety, and actually save millions in the process? That’s the burning question that Southwest Airlines asked themselves about their boarding process. And so, a team from Innovia led by Dr. Helena Rubinstein was tasked with finding the solution.

Helena spoke with InsideBE, the behavioral economics and consumer psychology hub, about what we did, how we helped, and where we got to. Read more here.

Only got 30 seconds? Read a quick summary of our work here.

The Problem

In the world of air travel, the more time the plane is on the ground the more money is lost. And the metrics that airlines use is that for every minute the plane is on the ground, specifically when it should be airborne, costs the airline $1 million. And one of the biggest issues increasing cost and passenger unhappiness is the boarding procedure. And so, Southwest Airlines wanted to improve customer satisfaction and increase the speed at which passengers boarded planes in order to save them money and improve their customer satisfaction.

Southwest Airlines is a pioneer in air travel. Founded in 1967, they’ve been the inspiration for most budget airlines around the world. And if you’ve ever experienced flying on a low-cost airline, you’ll know that most don’t let you pre-book seats. This was the case with Southwest.

The result was a mad dash to board, unhappy customers, and extra minutes spent on the ground.

Being a progressive airline, Southwest was also looking at the future. With the rapid expansion of AI technology, getting through security is going to be faster and more people will travel by plane. Which means more passengers at more gates. More chaos, more money lost, and more unsatisfied customers. And so, they turned to behavioral science for a solution.

And what was that solution? Read more here.