Lessons from Disney: How to Revolutionize the Airlines

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by Danny de la Cruz, Founding Editor[/x_text][/x_column][x_column bg_color=”” type=”3/4″ style=”padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px; “][x_text]I travel a good deal, thankfully not enough to say that I live out of a suitcase, but enough to say that I’ve racked up plenty of frequent flier miles and have seen many places around the world, but with more to go. And with travel comes the airport experience – too many to count and some too painful I’d rather forget. For me, the boarding process is one of the most stressful, maybe second only to the process of going through long security lines and wondering if you’ll make it to the gate on time.

[x_pullquote type=”right”]Airlines please take note – you can learn a lot from Disney as you try to innovate your airplanes and attempt to improve the airport customer experience.[/x_pullquote]I’m sure you’re very familiar with these scenes during boarding: people crowding around the gate and numerous lines forming as people jockey for position with all their carryon bags. What about people trying to board out of order and delaying the process or bringing too many personal items to cram into the overhead bins? Then, there’s marching down that cramped aisle on the plane and trying to find a spot for your carryon luggage in overhead bins often already filled with stuff that could easily fit under the seat in front of you – all of this at least a half hour to 45 minutes before you take off and there’s so much inefficiency and stress. I’m already stressed just thinking about it!

You’re wondering by now what this has to do with Disney, right?

I recently had an opportunity to spend an afternoon at the Disney California Adventure Park in Anaheim, CA. Since I only had a limited amount of time, I carefully preselected the rides that I had to go on and mapped out my route around the park ahead of time. One of those rides on my list was The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Undersea Adventure. Yes, I really did want to go on this ride – it’s a great movie! And for the record, I rode it a second time later that day after riding a few more adventurous rides.

The process for boarding this ride is similar to the Haunted Mansion ride which I’ve experienced at Disney World in Orlando, FL – you quickly move through a line and eventually find yourself stepping onto a conveyor belt moving in synch with a “pod-like” unit. In The Little Mermaid ride, you board a clamshell which comfortably sits two and once in, a bar locks down across your lap and you find yourself transported into an undersea world watching animatronic-filled vignettes along the way and scenes from the movie via video monitors. It’s a relaxing, enjoyable few minutes of riding along in a clamshell!

Airlines please take note – you can learn a lot from Disney as you try to innovate your airplanes and attempt to improve the airport customer experience.

[x_custom_headline type=”center” level=”h2″ looks_like=”h3″ accent=”true”]A Disney-esque Airplane Boarding Experience [/x_custom_headline]

My idea is to improve the boarding process and alleviate the chaos and stress normally associated with it:

1. Once you’ve made it to the gate, you board an actual seat pod in the waiting area.
2. You stash your carryon bag in a special compartment within the seat pod.
3. You scan your boarding pass to program your seat pod location on the plane.
4. Once boarding officially begins, your seat pod will automatically start moving in the most efficient order to load everyone onto the plane in a matter of stress-free minutes.
5. Along the way, you’ll view critical safety information, visuals of your destination, duration of your flight and other tidbits of information to help you pass the minutes as your seat pod moves efficiently along from the waiting area and onto the plane into your designated spot.
6. And of course, there will be soothing music piped in along the way for a more relaxing experience.

I know there are details to be ironed out, but that’s where the airline brain trust comes in with their big salaries to fine-tune my idea.

Dear airlines, please feel contact me when you’re ready to discuss and are looking for more innovative ideas. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and with it being the busiest travel holiday of the year, I’m sure these changes would come in very handy (one day)![/x_text][x_share title=”Share this with friends ” facebook=”true” twitter=”true” google_plus=”true” linkedin=”true” pinterest=”true” reddit=”true” email=”true”][/x_column][/x_row][/x_section]