Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air 2013 Annual Report Download - page 91

Hassle-Free Customer Experience
We want to be the easiest airline to fly, which we
will do by improving each step of the customer's
journey from booking a ticket to our in-flight
experience. During 2013, we upgraded our
Android and iPhone applications to allow our
customers to book tickets, shop for partner
awards, sign up for the Mileage Plan, pay for
bags, track flight details, check-in, get push
notifications, utilize iPhone Passbook and Google
Wallet, and view upgrade status and standby
lists. We surpassed 1 million customer
downloads of our apps during the year. We also
increased the number of self-bag tagging
locations to eight in 2013 (SEA, PDX, ANC, SAN,
SAT, SLC, MCI, and MSP), which allows
customers to print and attach their own luggage
tags from a self-service kiosk in the airport lobby.
We tested at home web bag-tagging for those
traveling direct to our Hawaii destinations and
are working closely with the TSA to offer this
option more broadly in 2014. The Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) Pre-Check Program
is available in 27 of our locations, which allows
eligible customers to opt-in for reduced
screening requirements, and the Pre-Check
notification is now visible on our boarding
passes. As passengers take more control of
their travel experience, we are able to reduce the
time it takes a customer to move from the
airport curb to the aircraft.
At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac),
we started transforming the airport's North
Satellite terminal into an upgraded, modernized
facility that will become our airlines' primary
terminal and will enhance the customer
experience and support growth. The project will
include design upgrades, enhanced traveler
amenities, additional gates, and a new roof-top
Boardroom. Together with the Sea-Tac Airport,
we will break ground in 2014 on a project to
install sloped walkways from the C-Concourse to
ground-level boarding areas along with new
covered walkways to the aircraft. In several
years, Alaska will be the sole airline tenant of
the North Satellite and Horizon will operate
entirely from the C Concourse.
We continued to improve our in-flight experience
with our cabin upgrade project, featuring the
innovative and comfortable Recaro seats with
both 110-volt and USB power outlets for every
passenger, and an enhanced inflight
entertainment system that allows customers to
stream movies and television shows to any Wi-Fi
enabled device. The first aircraft complete with
seats with power debuted in December and we
expect to finish the project for the majority of our
737's by the end of 2014. Also in 2013, we
purchased nine new 737-900ER's with the
Boeing Sky Interior, which includes variable
ambient cabin lighting, larger window recesses,
and overhead bins which provide more headroom
all designed to offer a greater sense of space. In
2014, we expect to purchase ten new
737-900ER's with the Boeing Sky Interior.
Energetic and Compelling Brand
We are fortunate to have high brand awareness
and customer loyalty in the Pacific Northwest and
Alaska, our core markets. To maintain market
share in core markets, while also growing in
newer markets like California, Hawaii and cities
in the mid-continental and eastern U.S., we
believe we must better understand what is
important to our customers, and position our
brand appropriately to help differentiate us from
the competition. In 2013, we aggressively
optimized our marketing initiatives to help us to
continue to raise awareness and consideration in
new markets and increase advocacy in
established ones. In pursuit of building an
energetic and compelling brand, in 2014, we will
be making a significant investment in our brand
refresh initiative.
We continue to leverage our brand and technology
to develop a direct relationship with more of our
customers. In 2013, approximately 55% of our
ticket sales were made through alaskaair.com,up
a point from 2012. In addition to more traditional
online advertising efforts, we continue to invest in
our social media communities, such as Facebook
and Twitter. We saw healthy increases in both of
our primary social communities with Facebook
growing by 45.9% and Twitter by 43.2%. In 2013,
we expanded our customer support team so that
we can continue to provide customers with
exceptional customer service throughout their
journey.
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