Dive Brief:
- American Airlines named three members Monday to its newly formed Customer Experience Advisory Board to help shape the carrier's strategy for serving customers. The advisory board replaces the Operational Excellence Advisory Board.
- Joining the board is Craig Reid, who most recently served as president and CEO of Auberge Resorts Collection; Carol Campbell, SVP and CXO at nonprofit Catholic health system Ascension; and Lauren Chewning, SVP of Marriott’s Data & Intelligence organization.
- The three experts “bring more than 90 years of combined experience in customer insights and hospitality to the airline,” the airline said in its announcement.
Dive Insight:
American’s appointments to its CX advisory board is part of a broader CX effort. In February, the carrier appointed Heather Garboden chief customer officer and established a customer experience organization.
That same month, the carrier announced its American’s Operational Excellence Advisory Board would become its Customer Experience Advisory Board. CEO Robert Isom said the board would include “additional outside voices who can share insights with us on how we structure our customer-focused efforts going forward.”
The board members have a wide array of expertise. Reid held various leadership roles at Four Seasons Hotels for three decades and most recently grew the luxury hotel portfolio of Auberge Resorts Collection from six properties to 28. While Chewning’s background is also in hospitality, her expertise is in using data and intelligence to drive revenue and loyalty to more than 30 hotel brands and travel products for Marriott.
Meanwhile, Campbell spent over 20 years at The Walt Disney Company and has applied her CX expertise to healthcare. Under Campbell’s leadership, Ascension increased its net promoter scores.
The newly appointed members join Bill Fitzgerald, retired VP and general manager of Commercial Engines Operation, and Chris Sultemeier, operating partner at NewRoad Capital Partners. The duo formed the original Operational Excellence Advisory Board in 2023.
American’s recent CX efforts include offering complimentary in-flight Wi-Fi to AAdvantage loyalty members, revamping its app, rolling out a new boarding process and opening new lounges.
On a May podcast, Garboden explained the impetus behind American’s renewed focus on customer experience.
“I've been in this business for 20 plus years. For most of this time customer experience was defined as running a reliable operation, getting to your destination on time and with your bags. But in today’s environment that’s table stakes, we know customers expect more,” Garboden said on a podcast.
Between raised expectations, demand for premium experiences, and a younger generation of flyers that value experiences more and are willing to pay for them, customer experience has become incredibly important, Garboden said.
“That’s why I’m super excited about our new team. We'll be at the intersection of operations and commercial and we will be focused on the entire customer journey from A to Z,” she said.
