Observations From ATL Terminal C

When I arrived at the Atlanta airport this morning from Tampa, I noticed that my 1 hour layover had doubled while I was in the air.  Being forever the optimist and taking things in stride as I often try to do, I saw this as an opportunity to grab a quick bite and catch up on some reading.

While eating my everything bagel, I received an email alert from Delta informing me that an additional hour has been added to my already 2 hour delay.  Having free wifi connectivity here in Terminal C with a relatively strong (48 mbps) signal, I again accepted this setback as an opportunity to catch up on some much needed writing.  I’m ashamed to say that
my last Jcyreus dot Com article was published on Dec 2, 2008.  At least the article’s title was an accurate reflection of my blogging commitment at the end of last year.  But I digress.

Sitting here behind the “American Express – Delta SkyMiles” credit application kiosk, I took a few minutes to observe the target marketing strategies of the 3 Amex representatives on duty this morning.  Here are a few of the things that I have so far observed about their approach:

1. Their call to action to passersby is to grab attention and establish eye contact by calling out “sir” or “Ma’am” at their prospective applicants.
2. Once the prospect’s attention is obtained, they pose the question, “are you flying Delta today?”  The catch to this is that EVERYONE in this terminal is flying Delta today.
3. Target prospects profiles are conspicuously absent of what would appear to be business travelers, families traveling with children and anyone else who generally looks like they know where they are going, wouldn’t take the time to listen to their pitch or isn’t generally interested in their cheap giveaways.
4. The people most commonly solicited for the attention of the Amex reps include older African American women, younger African American men (under 35), members of the U.S. armed forces and Caucasian women under the age of 25.  People who generally seem as though they haven’t seen the inside of an airport in about 10 years are also frequently targeted, but those other demographic subsets seem to be keeping these reps. pretty busy.
5. Prospects are most likely to stop and fill out an application if there are 2 or more applicants already at the kiosk.
6. Prospects are being enticed with free gifts that appear to be a mix of stuffed animals and portable alarm clocks.

By all appearances, it looks as though the people who are most frequently targeted and actually stop to fill out a credit application are those who appear to need money the most, but SHOW the least likelihood of being able to pay it back.  This isn’t a generalized assumption about the people I observed as being targeted based on their demographic characteristics, but more so based on how they present themselves as my determination of what they were wearing. One would think that the credit industry would have learned a lesson or two from the root cause of the American credit crisis which has all but brought our economy to its knees.  Perhaps I’m giving them too much credit.

For those of you who insist that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, I have this to offer…

When it comes to commercial air travel that statement is about 85% wrong and here is why:

If you give the appearance that you respect the airlines and at least make an effort to look half as polished as airline personnel, they will treat you with the same respect that they give to their peers.  If you dress like a schmuck, they will treat you like one.

I probably fly fewer than 12 times per year, but when I do I am sure to always wear collared shirts and never wear jeans, shorts, sneakers or workout clothes.

Why? Well, try asking for a free first class upgrade dressed in anything less and see what that gets you.  I’m not anywhere close to being considered a “frequent flier” with any of the airlines that I use, but I am a member of most airlines’ frequent filer programs, which are free to join and these two things have earned me upgrades on about 60% of the occasions when such upgrades are actually available and I am traveling alone.

Unlike many of the people I’ve already encountered this morning, I also treat airline personnel with the same respect that I would expect (or at least desire) from my clients.  Doing so helped me to obtain a “Crew” voucher the last time flight delays caused me to miss a connecting flight and got stuck in Charlotte, NC for the evening.  I otherwise would have had to fight alongside the rest of the schmucks just to keep from being told that there were no other vouchers available.  All of which are simple lessons, of which my experience has so far proven to be true.

(Written from Gate C30 at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.)