Thai Airways Wants to Crowdsource Cost Cutting Ideas From Passengers and Other Hair-brained Schemes

Star Alliance member Thai Airways, whose President says there’s “never a day without a problem,” has a six point plan to return to profitability. It involves getting passengers to e-mail in ideas for cost-cutting, sell more services through its mobile app, add a new route to Japan, and partner with a Thai cafe chain that’s found inside of gas stations.

According to the airline’s President,

With these … strategies, we believe THAI will return to its position as one of the top world class airlines, although not as soon as we hoped. This all depends on the support of Thai passengers who still love THAI, who can help by flying with our airline, use our services, and by making recommendations under the #SaveTG concept. All employees and I are confident that we will accomplish our goal.

Here’s the plan:

  1. SaveTG Co-Creation: The airline wants ideas for cutting costs that “does not hinder THAI’s quality of service.” They’re turning to the ariline’s employees for ideas and “and more importantly grants passengers the opportunity to suggest solutions for the company through Co-Creation at customer@thaiairways.com.” So if you have ideas for ways they can save money, drop them an email!

  2. Zero Waste Management: They initially aim to reduce food waste to save money. They don’t have a plan yet, but are spending money on a partner to help them spend less money on food.

    Rather than cutting onboard catering they could instead double down on their plan to sell Thai Airways frozen meals.

  3. New route: They expect to make money flying to Sendai, Japan starting in the fourth quarter.

  4. More ancillary revenue sold through their app: They plan to sell “excess baggage allowance, travel insurance, airport limousine service, car rental and hotels” and they’ve invested in more languages for the app to sell to more customers.

  5. THAI Synergy Strategy: They’re collaborating with Café Amazon, which is typically found in gas stations, “to expand business in Thailand and the Asian region.”

  6. TG Group Strategy: Platitudes.

    To make THAI and THAI Smile stronger together with a route network that offers systematic connectivity for passenger convenience, to be implemented regionally during the fourth quarter this year.

With a plan like this the airline’s stock should go straight to the moon. Oh wait, that didn’t end very well in the movies either.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. Thai Airways is twice the cost of an upgrade from economy to business compared to American Airlines. Their “fans” are simply getting wise to their shell game and flying EVA/ANA/CX which all have better options for upgrades, cash value, or full point redemptions.

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