Alaska Airlines has gone after a certain niche market that many airlines have totally ignored, thus giving them a point of difference. The air-line has made significant efforts to attract the unaccompanied juvenile passenger. Children represent a growing market for airlines. In 2001, the Air Transport Association estimated that some seven million passengers were children. Some children fly so frequently that they are VIPs in the frequent fliers clubs. Handling unaccompanied children generates extra revenue on top of the ticketed air fare. Most major air-lines charge an extra fee of between $30 and $75 each way for an unaccompanied child.
The airline offers a private, unmarked lounge, similar to a family room furnished with couches and overstuffed chairs, a high definition television, and a stack of coloring books. Their goal is to make sure the children on connecting flights are safe, secure, and happy and that their parents book them on that airline again.
Alaska Airlines has also developed a system that can pinpoint the location of children at any time during their trip. The system is similar to the one used for tracking packages. The child tracking system re-quires every employee who escorts a child to sign in when he or she picks the child up and sign out when he or she releases the child to another Alaska employee. The child’s progress is tracked manually and through the airline’s reservations computer system.
