SkyTeam insights and analytics: a data-driven exploration of our alliance

SkyTeam has recently built a brand-new dashboard to help us gather important information and metrics on the customer experience from across the alliance. This new dashboard will enable us to see where things are going right, and where improvements can be made, along a customer’s journey when they are traveling with more than one member airline.

We caught up with David Sewall, Manager – Insights & Analytics at SkyTeam, who shared with us the background behind the dashboard’s creation and how it will be used across the alliance to make our customers’ lives easier. You can learn more about David and his role within SkyTeam later on in the story.

Who is the dashboard designed for?

David: Currently, the dashboard will be used by SAAM and SkyTeam members to explore critical data on key customer pain points across the traveling experience. Over time, it will become the central data hub, connecting all SkyTeam programs and products together with the customer journey. This hub will also be our science lab, where, in the future, we will be able to use data science and advanced analytics to help us predict customer pain points before they happen and provide prescriptive recommendations. Ultimately it will be crucial to creating a seamless customer journey and will encompass all parts of the alliance landscape from transfers through to loyalty.

How is it being used?

David: At the moment, the dashboard is focusing on metrics to do with the experience of alliance interline transfer passengers across SkyTeam. These measures include flight and baggage performance, IATCI, and Transfer Flow Volume. Metrics around SkyTeam Rebooking will be added in the near future.

What’s your role in managing the dashboard?

David: It’s my responsibility to lead the team behind the dashboard in collecting and aggregating the data from our members to assemble it into a ‘bigger picture’ which can then be used to identify, report and track progress on tackling customer pain points. I also oversee the transfer of the information back to relevant SkyTeam members through various channels.

How will SkyTeam members benefit from the dashboard?

David: The dashboard is designed to bring visibility of interline-customer pain points to members so they can solve any issues that may be occurring at their end. Previously, we were not able to collate the data coming from individual members into a combined whole, meaning it was more difficult to track the entire interline customer experience across multiple different touchpoints.

By combining the data from each member airline, along with supplemental data from third-parties, we are able to create a unique perspective into the customer journey which a single airline cannot do on their own.

The insights from the dashboard will enable alliance members to each play a part in improving the customer experience across SkyTeam.

And now a little more about the brains behind the dashboard:

David joined SkyTeam in August 2018, seconded from Delta Air Lines. He brings 20+ years of airline and analytic experience to his role where he will lead efforts to use data in groundbreaking ways to deliver a more seamless customer journey experience. Prior to joining SkyTeam, David was the Manager Commercial Analytics Support and Analytics Solutions Architect at Delta. David is a graduate of Northwestern University with an MS in Data Science with specialization in Analytics and Modeling and Analytics Management. He also holds an undergraduate degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in Management with specialization in Finance and Economics.

Thanks to the new dashboard, we’re now able to visualize much more data from our members so we can make greater progress in solving interline customer pain points. SkyTeam served no less than 4.9 million flown interline transfer passengers between Jan – Jul 2019 – meaning the data we’re gathering is of critical importance to help us ensure they experience the most seamless journey possible.

We’re now looking to educate members about the dashboard and the benefits they can get from it. The more they use the dashboard, the more data can be collected, which makes the data more accurate and therefore more useful for everyone. We also want them to tell us which kinds of data they would find most helpful, which will influence the information we prioritize collecting and sharing.

We thought it was time to share some of this data with you too, to give you a clearer picture of what’s going on across the alliance and how we’re performing against key performance metrics.

So over the coming months, InTouch will be diving deeper into one key data point each issue, to help you make sense of the experience our customers are receiving across SkyTeam.

This month, we’ll be looking at departure-flight punctuality for interline flown transfer passengers across SkyTeam from Jan-Jul 2019.

We’re proud to say that 99% of all flights carrying at least one alliance interline transfer passenger departing within this period did so within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure time – a truly incredible amount.

Within this 99%, 59% departed right on time. Just 1% of departures set off more than 15 minutes late, with less than 1% ultimately being canceled.

These insights have been taken from data that factors in both original and connecting flight departures. Only flights with actual departure times provided to OAG have been included.

Next month, we’ll be examining similar data around the success rate of flight arrivals.

SkyTeam members can request to access and use the dashboard through their airline SkyTeam manager or by contacting David on david.sewall@skyteam.com.