Above all, travelers want punctuality. They want some control over how and when they fly, too.

By STEVE HUETTEL, Times Staff Writer

Published May 22, 2005

Wallace Hawkes gets the red carpet treatment whenever he flies Delta Air Lines.

With nearly 12-million Sky Miles under his belt, Hawkes can walk up to the gate and instantly jump to the top of the list for a first-class upgrade. An extra-wide seat, plenty of legroom and his drink - white wine and club soda - await.

But the Tampa executive for engineering giant URS Corp. increasingly picks all-coach Southwest Airlines because it usually means a nonstop flight from Tampa International Airport instead of switching planes in a busy Delta hub.

``I just want to get there on time,`` Hawkes said.

Traditional network airlines are getting the message that discounters built their business on: Focus on the basics. Customers also want to navigate the travel process themselves as much as possible and don`t want any surprises.

``It`s all about control for travelers,`` said Lee Macenczak, senior vice president for customer service at Delta Air Lines. ``They want a reliable, consistent travel experience.``

Price is always a top priority, even for business fliers who used to be more concerned with convenience and comfort.

But first and foremost, customers value an airline that consistently runs on time, according to the 2005 Business Travel Monitor by YPB&R, a marketing, advertising and public relations firm that specializes in travel.

Ninety-two percent of business travelers called on-time flights ``extremely`` or ``very desirable`` airline attributes, top-ranked along with a clean safety record. Friendly and efficient service (91 percent) and ample leg room (88 percent) came in next.

``At the end of the day in the airline business, it boils down to delivery of the basics,`` said Peter Yesawich, chief executive of YPB&R, headquartered in Orlando.

Discount carriers, especially Southwest and JetBlue Airways, consistently score among the top for on-time performance. That`s because they fly point-to-point, largely avoiding congested hubs and the complexities of transferring passengers and bags between planes.

US Airways and Delta Connection carrier Comair experienced service meltdowns over the Christmas holiday last year. Comair was hit with severe weather and a computer breakdown, a Department of Transportation report said.

Bankrupt US Airways didn`t have enough ramp workers and flight attendants, mostly at its Philadelphia hub, to handle the busy holiday, the report said. US Airways canceled 405 flights with 46,000 passengers. More than half of its flights were delayed, affecting 518,000 travelers.

US Airways remained near the bottom of airline on-time rankings - no higher than 14th among the 19 largest U.S. carriers - for the first three months of 2005.

The airline is working to turn that around.

US Airways has hired more than 500 customer and fleet service employees. Crews close aircraft doors five minutes before departure time. Captains now check to make sure tasks such as catering and bag loading are proceeding on time and ask for help if there`s a problem.

In the first two weeks of the initiative, the airline ran ahead of its on-time goals for the first time in 21/2 years, said spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. ``We heard our customers and understood they wanted a quality product as well as low fares,`` she said.

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Particularly since the travel hassles after Sept. 11, 2001, fliers don`t like the unexpected. How long will it take to get through airport security? Will there be room overhead for carry-on bags? How about enough space to stretch out my legs?

``At the end of the day, people want good value for a good experience,`` said Stuart Klaskin of KKC Aviation Consultants in Coral Gables. ``Airline passengers want value consistency.``

People fly Southwest for the same reason they stop at McDonald`s on a road trip: They know what they`re going to get, he said. Southwest and JetBlue fly only one model and aircraft. Both have leather seats and offer more legroom than most competitors in coach.

JetBlue now gives passengers a choice of legroom. The first 10 rows, with the quickest boarding and deplaning, have at least 32 inches of ``seat pitch,`` the space between one point on a seat and the same point on the seat in front of it. Rows farther back have 2 inches more.

Customer want that kind of control, airline experts say. Nearly all carriers let passengers print out their boarding passes, giving them the option to go directly to their gate if they don`t check luggage.

On Southwest, which doesn`t assign seats, early birds can print out a pass for the first boarding group - assigned on a first-come, first-served basis - without arriving at the airport hours ahead of time.

Delta invested heavily in self-service airport kiosks, largely to cut back on ticket counter employees. But many customers like that they have more control over their trip using the machines, said Macenczak, the airline`s customer service chief.

Airline employees take a different view of customer service.

US Airways has replaced or downgraded some ticket agents to lower-paid ``customer service assistants`` who help travelers use kiosks, said John Tyler, president of a Communications Workers of America local based in Orlando.

The new assistants aren`t trained on reservations computers and can`t help passengers rebook when flights are canceled or delayed, he said.

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With airlines squeezed by high fuel costs and low fares, carriers are constantly looking for places to cut costs. The key is making sure not to turn off travelers.

``There`s a sense of (needing to) find out what things customers truly value and what they value less or not at all,`` said American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith.

American, the world`s largest airline, removed pillows from domestic flights in February, except transcontinental trips and flights to Hawaii. The change will save American $675,000 annually, mostly from replacing pillows and pillow cases.

Delta followed suit a month later. The decision wasn`t to save money but to make it easier to clean planes quickly at its Atlanta hub, Macenczak said. The move also opened up overhead bin space for carry-ons, he said.

At the same time, Delta stopped selling food on domestic flights. Because it was hard to estimate demand, Macenczak said, crews often ran out of popular items or had to throw out leftovers.

Most travelers don`t expect much in the way of inflight food.

While 72 percent of Business Travel Monitor respondents said they valued high quality food and beverages, only 44 percent expected a full meal. Sixty-one percent expected ``at least`` a snack, and 35 percent wanted a choice of food for sale.

Business travelers, however, increasingly want inflight entertainment. The number of business travelers who want a choice of movies (54 percent), television (44 percent) and Internet access (36 percent) all went up significantly from last year.

JetBlue, Frontier Airlines and Delta`s low-fare division, Song, offer 24 channels of satellite television and other features on seatback screens.

``Inflight entertainment is an emerging factor,`` said airline analyst Robert Mann of R.W. Mann & Associates in Port Washington, N.Y. ``People are expecting they ought to . . . be able to choose what they get at home.``

Systems are expensive, though, especially when installing them around the wiring of planes in service. Delta outfitted Song`s 38 planes, but installing systems to the main airline`s fleet of more than 800 jets ``isn`t in the cards from a cost perspective,`` said Macenczak.

American came up with a limited, low-tech response. The airline charges $5 to rent a hand-held DVD player for movies on long-haul flights.

``The industry has changed in terms of what people value and expect,`` Smith said. ``You can`t afford to stay in the same place.``

Steve Huettel can be reached at 813 226-3384 or huettel@sptimes.com