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‘Wow!’ OPR streak stays hot in October

Alaska Airlines extended its reliability record for the seventh straight month by far exceeding its on-time goal in October and topped its customer satisfaction target for the ninth time this year. The combined efforts earned employees a $100 bonus, to be paid in late January 2010.

Alaska's operational performance (based on internal unofficial numbers)
	Goal	October 2009	October 2008
DOT on-time percentage	80%	85.8%	84.4 %
Completion rate (percent of flights completed)	99%	99.5%	99.3%
Mishandled bag rate per 1,000	4 or fewer	3.95	2.54

The carrier’s unofficial Department of Transportation on-time rate of 85.8 percent far exceeded its goal of 80 percent — resulting in a $50 bonus for every employee under the Operational Performance Rewards program. The customer satisfaction score of 75.9 percent for October also exceeded the goal of 75 percent, earning employees another $50.

Alaska’s on-time percentage for October is likely to place the airline ahead of most, if not all, of its relevant competitors when the Department of Transportation releases its official numbers in early December. It’s also a 1.4-point improvement over the same month a year ago and a 12.5-point improvement over two years ago. At the same time, passenger load factors were high at 77 percent, 3.4 points higher than last year.

“Wow — seven months in a row is a fantastic achievement!” Chief Operating Officer Ben Minicucci said. “Employees are doing all the right things. I’m confident as we move into the winter and holiday season that we can sustain this strong performance and cement our place as the best operational airline out there. A big thank you to everyone.”

Alaska also exceeded its goals for completed flights (99.5 percent in October) and baggage handling (3.95 mishandled bags out of 1,000).

Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction scores exceeded the goal with 75.9 percent satisfaction. The score is derived from Mileage Plan members who respond to the carrier’s online survey and rate their overall travel experience as “very good” or “excellent.”

The overall satisfaction score was down 2.5 points from September and 0.8 points compared with October 2008.

“We made the goal, but have slipped a little from last month and from the same month last year,” said Steve Jarvis, vice president of marketing, sales and customer experience. “Our scores for satisfaction on a recent flight were off 3.6 points from September, so this is an area of concern. On a positive note, passengers seem to be very happy with our check-in experience, rating the courtesy and helpfulness of the check-in agent at 90 percent excellent or very good.”

The overall “employee attitude, courtesy and helpfulness” score remained strong in October at 81 percent. Another positive sign is that customers estimated the average time to wait for a checked bag at the carousel at 9.1 minutes. This is the first time customers have said their bags have been delivered in less than 10 minutes on average, Jarvis said.

The customer survey tracks the entire travel experience — from making a reservation to picking up luggage at the end of a trip. About 1,400 randomly selected Mileage Plan members receive an e-mail each week inviting them to participate in the online survey.

The OPR program provides a $50 monthly bonus for every employee if Alaska achieves its on-time goal of 80 percent or ranks in the top three of its 10 relevant competitors: AirTran, American, Continental, Delta, Frontier, JetBlue, Northwest, Southwest, United and US Airways. Every employee also receives a $50 monthly bonus if the OPR customer satisfaction score is at least 75 percent.

October’s $100 bonus – along with $100 earned in September and any bonuses earned in November -- will appear in late January 2010 paychecks. So far this year, employees have earned $800 in OPR bonuses.