Reflection Learning Launch “Hand luggage at the gate”

Challenge

I am working as an operations manager for a European airline. The challenge for our team is to  improve the passenger flow in the aircraft during the boarding process to increase the punctuality  of departing narrow body aircraft. In the current situation there is a problem with the amount and  volume of hand luggage that passengers carry with them when they show up at the gate for  boarding. Most of the passengers (around 75%) are so called transfer passengers that have  arrived with a long-haul flight in a wide body aircraft (often operated by a partner airline with less  stringent rules for hand luggage) to our airport. They typically transfer to a short haul flight which  is operated with a narrow body aircraft. These aircraft have a more limited luggage capacity in the  overhead bins compared to the wide body aircraft and when the departing narrow-body flights are  fully booked the total amount of hand luggage of all passengers does not fit in the overhead bins.  This does not only lead to discussions with the crew on board of the aircraft, it also delays the  boarding process and thus the departure of the flight as the overflow of hand luggage needs to be  removed from the passenger cabin, brought to the ramp where it gets loaded in the belly of the  aircraft.

Selection

The tool our team selected to explore and test ideas to improve the situation is the “learning  launch” tool. This design tool is focused on doing fast and cheap experiments (so called learning  launches) to test hypothesis and obtain data to determine whether key assumptions are true and  learn if ideas are good.

The reason we selected this tool is that it is relatively easy and effective to apply in our situation.  We realized we could do cheap experiments by applying small modifications to our boarding  process to test our hypothesis with real customers with a small group of gates/flights. And we can  evaluate the results by comparing it with similar flights applying the unmodified / standard  boarding process. This way we can objectively see what works and what does not work.

Application

How did we apply the learning launch tool? With a small team of employees, we first observed  the current boarding process of several departing narrow body flights to identify what we believed  were the key problem areas. This gave us a better understanding of the key issues that we  believed led to delays in the boarding process.

The next thing we did with the team was generating ideas how we could potentially streamline the  boarding process by attacking the key issues we observed. In a couple of hours, we came to a  list of around 10 ideas that we thought would be interesting. To validate our ideas and the  underlying assumptions we decided to test them in practice one by one by applying small process  changes and observe the effect in practice.

As an example, we learned from observing the regular boarding process that most passengers  do not realize that smaller carry-on luggage items can be placed under the seat in front of them in  the cabin. We assumed that by making passengers more aware of this option we could change  their behavior and increase the use of this solution which would leave more space available in the  overhead luggage bins for the larger items.

We decided to test this hypothesis by pro-actively approaching passengers waiting in the gate  area before boarding to explain our test and request them to put their smaller items under the  seat in front of them once they arrived at their seat in the aircraft. To increase their awareness  and remind them of this option, we created special blue colored labels which we attached to  those smaller hand luggage items that would fit underneath a seat. We tested this on 20  departing flights and noticed an average reduction of the overall boarding process lead-time with  5 minutes (compared to similar flights using the standard boarding process) due to a better flow  in the aircraft. Based on this successful experiment we decided to scale the use of the special  blue hand luggage label on all our departing narrow body flights. This solution is still in use today  and works very well.

Insight

The learning launch tool worked very well in this situation. We were able to quickly test our  hypothesis in practice and observe the effects of our process modifications in real time. We  realized that using the gate area environment is actually a very practical and cheap way to create  our own “test laboratory”. For some reason we had never thought of this option before. In  addition, passengers found it very interesting to participate in the experiments we did because  they fully recognized the pain points we tried to solve and felt recognized as valuable customers.

What turned out to be difficult in this set up was to get quick feedback from passengers on how  they experienced the process modifications. Soon after they boarded the aircraft the aircraft  doors were closed, and the aircraft left. Of course, we could have asked them to fill in a  questionnaire on board of the aircraft (with assistance of the cabin crew) but that would have  created quite an administrative burden and would not lead to a quick feedback process.

Approach

What we did not realize at first, is that it would have been interesting to use the same learning  launch tool but actively involve passengers more upfront in the process during brainstorming on  ideas to improve the situation. This would probably have taught us quicker which process  modifications would be embraced by the passengers easily, and which modifications would  probably be more challenging to implement or even would not lead to success. This could have  saves us from doing some experiments that turned out not be successful after all.

So, in a next round of learning launches we will involve customers in the early stages of our  experiments to identify those ideas that have the highest probability to be implemented  successfully.


Reflection Learning Launch “ Hand luggage at the gate ” Challenge I am working as an operations manager for a European airline . The challenge for our team is to improve the passenger flow in the aircraft during the boarding process to increase the punctuality of departing narrow body aircraft . In the current situation there is a problem with the amount and volume of hand luggage that passengers carry with them when they show up at the gate for boarding . Most of the passengers ( around 75 % ) are so called transfer passengers that have arrived with a long - haul flight in a wide body aircraft ( often operated by a partner airline with less stringent rules for hand luggage ) to our airport . They typically transfer to a short haul flight which is operated with a narrow body aircraft . These aircraft have a more limited luggage capacity in the overhead bins compared to the wide body aircraft and when the departing narrow - body flights are fully booked the total amount of hand luggage of all passengers does not fit in the overhead bins . This does not only lead to discussions with the crew on board of the aircraft , it also delays the boarding process and thus the departure of the flight as the overflow of hand luggage needs to be removed from the passenger cabin , brought to the ramp where it gets loaded in the belly of the aircraft . Selection The tool our team selected to explore and test ideas to improve the situation is the “ learning launch ” tool . This design tool is focused on doing fast and cheap experiments ( so called learning launches ) to test hypothesis and obtain data to determine whether key assumptions are true and learn if ideas are good . The reason we selected this tool is that it is relatively easy and effective to apply in our situation . We realized we could do cheap experiments by applying small modifications to our boarding process to test our hypothesis with real customers with a small group of gates / flights . And we can evaluate the results by comparing it with similar flights applying the unmodified / standard boarding process . This way we can objectively see what works and what does not work . Application How did we apply the learning launch tool ? With a small team of employees , we first observed the current boarding process of several departing narrow body flights to identify what we believed were the key problem areas . This gave us a better understanding of the key issues that we believed led to delays in the boarding process . The next thing we did with the team was generating ideas how we could potentially streamline the boarding process by attacking the key issues we observed . In a couple of hours , we came to a list of around 10 ideas that we thought would be interesting . To validate our ideas and the underlying assumptions we decided to test them in practice one by one by applying small process changes and observe the effect in practice . As an example , we learned from observing the regular boarding process that most passengers do not realize that smaller carry - on luggage items can be placed under the seat in front of them in the cabin . We assumed that by making passengers more aware of this option we could change their behavior and increase the use of this solution which would leave more space available in the overhead luggage bins for the larger items . We decided to test this hypothesis by pro - actively approaching passengers waiting in the gate area before boarding to explain our test and request them to put their smaller items under the seat in front of them once they arrived at their seat in the aircraft . To increase their awareness and remind them of this option , we created special blue colored labels which we attached to those smaller hand luggage items that would fit underneath a seat . We tested this on 20 departing flights and noticed an average reduction of the overall boarding process lead - time with 5 minutes ( compared to similar flights using the standard boarding process ) due to a better flow in the aircraft . Based on this successful experiment we decided to scale the use of the special blue hand luggage label on all our departing narrow body flights . This solution is still in use today and works very well . Insight The learning launch tool worked very well in this situation . We were able to quickly test our hypothesis in practice and observe the effects of our process modifications in real time . We realized that using the gate area environment is actually a very practical and cheap way to create our own “ test laboratory ” . For some reason we had never thought of this option before . In addition , passengers found it very interesting to participate in the experiments we did because they fully recognized the pain points we tried to solve and felt recognized as valuable customers . What turned out to be difficult in this set up was to get quick feedback from passengers on how they experienced the process modifications . Soon after they boarded the aircraft the aircraft doors were closed , and the aircraft left . Of course , we could have asked them to fill in a questionnaire on board of the aircraft ( with assistance of the cabin crew ) but that would have created quite an administrative burden and would not lead to a quick feedback process . Approach What we did not realize at first , is that it would have been interesting to use the same learning launch tool but actively involve passengers more upfront in the process during brainstorming on ideas to improve the situation . This would probably have taught us quicker which process modifications would be embraced by the passengers easily , and which modifications would probably be more challenging to implement or even would not lead to success . This could have saves us from doing some experiments that turned out not be successful after all . So , in a next round of learning launches we will involve customers in the early stages of our experiments to identify those ideas that have the highest probability to be implemented successfully .