Affiliation:
1. University of Cote d'Azur, France
Abstract
The concept of facilitating sound service experiences has been widely discussed in the marketing landscape in recent years. Whilst the concept is highly acknowledged in service industries, it introduces some challenges when services are dovetailed and delivered to customers by multiple service providers. These aspects offer new realms to understand how customers form their experiences whilst interacting and encountering dovetailed services of networked service providers. To explore these spheres, a qualitative study employing thematic analysis was conducted to understand how networked and dovetailed services of an airline alliance influence the experiences of international airline travellers. The results of the study suggest that the alliance carriers' ability to offer extensive, synchronised, harmonised, interactive, and reciprocated services can be instrumental and pivotal for delivering sound experiences to their customers. In addition, these attributes offer new avenues to suggest that alliance carriers' services could be considered an omni-partner engagement activity.