Excellent info!

Suzanne Reisman — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 21:44:14 -0500

Thanks Pam for speaking out on behalf of what real women want. I am so glad that you were able to speak with someone live. I sent an email telling them what I would like to see as a woman traveler, and how I thought this campaign fell very short, and I have heard nothing back from them. I wish they didn't start from the lowest common denominator of stereotypes, but I'll be interested to see where this goes.

I still hate gender marketing as a whole, though, and the booking screen shows up on my monitor as lavender, not blue! Or at least it initially did. If it is blue now, I wonder if they changed it based on complaints. And they should add the advanced search options back. I know female brains are smaller and challenged by hormones, but I think we handle more complex options.

Suzanne, BlogHer Contributing Editor - Feminsim & Gender
Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS)& Other Rants

What you said!

Pam — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 23:12:20 -0500

Not just the travel articles by some "like us.: :)

I do think AA has interesting and/or valuable intent underneath what they're trying to pitch. They just haven't found the balance between All That Marketing and what's really useful and/or influential towards fliers like us. It's tricky to find the balance between really being community focused and meeting corporate goals. That's the magic right there, eh? If they can succeed in that, well, they'll really be on to something.

It speaks highly of them that they were so responsive when I contacted them. After talking with them, I really wanted to want what they were offering, but I still wasn't buying.

Nerd's Eye View

Bah

Denise — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 19:51:05 -0500

I'm not a huge fan of AA/Rainbow. In fact I have only been there once before you linked it today, when I clicked again and decided it's just not something I want or need.

I think there are better ways to provide information and services for target groups and I really hope AA or some other airline figures it out.

Imagine travel articles written by women like Pam or queers like ME! I'd be thrilled to write a review or six of gay friendly hotels, restaurants, and tourist destinations. That's the kind of information that would lure me into a target specific reservation site.

Thanks for making the call to AA, Pam. I appreciate hearing what the folks at AA had to say.

~Denise
Fast Times @ Homeschool High and Flamingo House Happenings

A Conversation with American Airlines/Women

Pam — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 18:39:58 -0500

American Airlines' women focused travel site launched last week to mixed reviews. Here on BlogHer, Suzanne took them to task on "American Airlines: Helping Us Clueless Women Fly to Spas." Upgrade: Travel Better posted American Airlines, Separate but Lavender. (That's yours truly in the comments.) Consumerist called the site "Weird, Lame..." There were, unsurprisingly, any number of detractors.

The whole pitch behind the AA site - which, in case you haven't clicked is actually blue, not lavender, is that AA is listening to what women have to say about their travel needs. From the AA site:

This web page is about you â€“ our valued customer. We've listened to women and recognized the need to provide additional information tailored to your business and pleasure travel needs and lifestyle.

They say they've listened and that they want to hear more. That turns out to be the truth. I contacted them and then, spent about an hour talking with Mary Sanderson from AA.

Sanderson was refreshingly candid about the site. She admitted that the web based social interaction model is new to them and that they are still working out their strategy around that. She said that they have a lot of content that travelers like myself would find useful, but that they haven't figured out how to expose it to us yet. She said that because women make up 51% of the population and make something like 75% of all travel purchases, it was important for the airlines to service that part of their market.

It sounds like they are devoted to doing their homework but that the issues aren't really apparent to you and me yet - and again, Sanderson admits that there is still work to do around getting information out to the customer. For example, she told me about changes that were made in cabin design based on feedback from women in extensive market research tests, but you'd have to do a lot of digging in the site to learn about that.

AA has, historically, tried to tailor their products and services for certain sectors - they've been running AA/Rainbow for gay and lesbian travelers for years now. Some of the issues that make AA/Rainbow attractive are in effect with AA/Women, but it's just not obvious on the site. Again, a hard to find example: There are programs that will allow the flier to accrue the frequent flier miles while donating points to organizations like the Human Rights Council. The same program is in effect for women owned small businesses.

On the "Ladies to the spa" issue, Sanderson said that spa travel is a growing sector and that Wyndham, with whom they've had a long partnership, was a natural for them. And she says that the travel tips are coming in - they're looking forward to finding a way to share information from travelers - useful, practical travel tips - with their readers. Sanderson also mentioned that hotels that have invested in finding out what their women guests want also find that many of the features added are positively received by all hotel guests - they'd like to capitalize on that by using feedback from women to make travel better for all of their passengers.

This is mostly good stuff, even if the message is somewhat lost in the site. But things start to fall apart for me when I dig into my personal needs around travel. I asked Sanderson what they had for me, the solo long haul coach flier. There wasn't a whole lot she could offer me. The only actionable suggestion she had was that I consider purchasing a day pass to the Admiral's Lounge when I'm doing long haul with stopovers. That's fine, but it doesn't answer issues I have as a female traveler or as one with an extremely limited budget. That's exactly what I said to Sanderson.

"Well then," she said, "since I have you on the line, why don't you tell me what you do want?" This attitude embodies, I think, the underpinnings of AA's initiative - straight talk from women passengers. They really DO want to know. We talked about my irritation that I can't travel carry on anymore because of the TSA restrictions and because of that, I can't bring basic cosmetic items for my comfort without eying my toothpaste and wondering if it is or isn't 6 ounces. We talked about how I'm a smallish woman and in a full plane,there's always an issue with the armrest. We talked about the occasional bad behavior of fellow passengers - I have been harassed by drunk guys when flying New Year's Eve, for example. It comes down to logistics and, surprise, surprise, money. Extra armrests mean fewer seats. Moisturizer for 900,000 passengers a day is a massive undertaking. Etc.

AA/Women has ambitions towards being a social networking site for travelers to share information - in addition to being a portal to AA's booking engine. I think they've missed the mark with this launch, but Sanderson is already anticipating the evolution of the site. In the current incarnation, AA/Women holds little to no appeal for this traveler, though I'd be interested in seeing, over the long term, if they are able to embrace and implement the community facing values the propose to support.

Scorecard? Not ready for primetime. But again, Sanderson is candid. "We had to start somewhere. There's more to come."

Pam blogs about travel and other adventures at Nerd's Eye View.

BlogHer - A Conversation with American Airlines/Women - Comments

Excellent info!

What you said!

Bah

A Conversation with American Airlines/Women