Azul Review: Inflight

When most things go as planned for you and the airline, you’re comfortably seated on the aircraft roughly when you expected. You’re likely a bit more relaxed now, than you have been for the last hour or so. Certainly, I don’t want to overlook the nervous flyers as I understand that at this point your nerves actually might just be getting warmed up.

Whether a seasoned, road warrior flyer, concerned flyer or first-time flyer, you’re now in the safe care of a well trained and qualified inflight (commonly called flight attendants) and pilot crew. Your safety is their top priority and could rightly take this whole post, I’m excited to discuss some of their other priorities and will mostly focus on the Inflight crew and not the pilots.

After ensuring safety, good airlines Inflight crew’s aid in a very efficient operation of the flight to help ensure on-time departure and arrival OR they offer a very comfortable flight experience with great customer service and offerings.  A great airline will do both! For most of us traveling these days, in flight is the most actual face-to-face or in-person time we will have with an airline employee. Increasingly, the gap of customers preferences in flight are widening with customers ranging from wanting to stay connected by wifi, bringing a book or newspaper to entertain themselves, coming on board with downloaded content on personal devices, the constant call button pusher, the “please just leave me alone” person and so on.

In many ways, the Inflight crews that I interacted with during my time at Azul were similar to the ones at other airlines and ones I’ve interacted with for years. They were professional and proficient in all that they did. But after experiencing the in flight service on 9 flights over 10 days, in multiple classes of service and cities and, similar to my airport experience, sometimes accompanying Azul leadership and other times alone, there were some clear things that made the Azul Inflight crew stand out amount their industry peers.

  1. Their collaborative work across peer groups to ensure and enable on-time performance. Inflight’s interactions with maintenance, airports, and pilots were a well-oiled orchestration.  Something that many in the industry would envy.
  2. Wonderful balance of meeting safety needs and ensuring comfort and high levels of service. They beautifully flexed back and forth between instruction and accommodation modes.
  3. Uniformity and appearance adherence. For a 10-year-old company to be as consistent in these adherences is amazing! If there was an untucked shirt or off-center scarf I didn’t see them.  I was there during breast cancer awareness month where the uniforms could vary to include pink. Even the flexing of this option was done in complete concert and uniformity. While very pristine in dress and appearance that didn’t get in the way of manual matters like overhead baggage storage or garbage collection. This uniformity and consistency increase customer confidence in the overall Inflight experience.
  4. Common sense approach to service. It was fun to notice after John Rodgerson, CEO for Azul, pointed it out, that after takeoff female Inflight crew would change out of heels into flats to begin the cabin services. The decision to have this option as part of the uniform came directly from an Inflight crewmember and with the vision and desire to maintain style while adding the flexibility of functionality.
  5. Being prepared for the breadth of customers they meet and serve each day. Because of Azul’s business model they cast a very wide net for a customer base. From the uber frequent day trip traveler to the first time flyer whose only transportation comparison is a bus. On one of my flights, my row mate, a sweet lady of advances experience in life, was talking in great detail to the Inflight crew in our area before doing up her seat belt. I wasn’t paying that much attention and my Portuguese is, well, coming along. After a nice quiet flight and upon landing she asked me something as the deplaning started. I quickly understood that she needed help to undo her seat belt and that she had never used a seatbelt before.

While these experiences all inspired me, the true inspiration about the Azul Inflight team is what came next. In a meeting with Mr. Rodgerson, we reviewed customer scores and feedback for the Inflight team. Mixed in were a few opportunities, but far and away the scores and feedback were gushing about the Inflight team.

In the comments were touching stories of an Inflight crew that pieced together a hanging sling with a neck pillow to cradle the leg of a customer recovering from surgery. Allowing the customer to relax from the stress of flying hurt and ensuring comfort. There was also an elaborate tooth fairy save, with a crew helping a young child that had lost a tooth during flight understand that this plane had a special willow that the tooth fairy would enter through, with permission from the captain of course, at night during the flight. All this little traveler needed to do was fall asleep and the tooth fairy would come. The child awoke to a haul of loot that I trust raised the expectation of tooth fairy visits in that house forever.

Last and most impactful, was the way I witnessed leadership and Inflight be united and aligned in the execution of a world-class customer experience. This is not the relationship I always see and it is often adversarial. What concreted my trust in their relationship was a very simple experience.  After a brief meeting with leadership and several Inflight crewmembers, as we casually left the meeting the direct leader of the Inflight team, clearly a trusted and respected leader, asked me if I knew what was hanging around my neck.

It was the all too familiar airline lanyard with a credit card sized ID in a plastic case hanging at the end. I’d worn one almost daily for years. All but one airline I had ever known had their employees wear them visible at all times, and called it their ‘badge’. So I quickly answered, “Yes, this is my guest badge.”

With a slight look of disappointment he replies, “No, that is not a badge. At Azul Inflight, that is a medal. Something earned and worn with honor.” Something that connects them to the organization they represent when they wear it. Something that connects them to the people they are serving and the people they serve with. Something coveted by those that don’t have it and treasured by those that do.

In every way, like those Azul Inflight crew, coming to work should be an honor, serving those we do should feel like a privilege and we should do it with the passion of seeking a medal as a reward.  Those of us as leaders, bear the greater responsibility in providing this type of work environment to allow our teams to go for the gold medal for service for our customers.