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Alaska Airlines Prayer Card; Source: AirlineMeals.net
Yesterday, Alaska Airlines announced that the prayer cards that it hands out to passengers on meal trays will be discontinued beginning February 1st. This is an excellent decision that will probably work out very well for them.
The prayer cards were started over 30 years ago as a way to “differentiate the product” of Alaska Airlines. For years, it worked out well for them, with largely positive comments. However, the demographic of their passengers has changed, and now the prayer cards are the source of more complaints than compliments for Alaska.
From a business point of view, neutrality on highly personal topics like religion is generally a good idea. No business wants to offend customers, and expressing a preference for a specific religion is an easy way to turn people off. Very few people will decide not to fly Alaska because the prayer cards are being discontinued, but people who were offended by the “proselytizing” might give Alaska another shot.
Cutting the prayer cards is also a cost savings for Alaska. Not having to pay for the prayer cards means that Alaska can marginally improve their margins. In an industry where airlines are lucky to even break even, every dollar counts.
Wall Street seems to like the news, with Alaska’s stock price jumping over 1.5% as well. I guess they came to the same conclusion – prayer cards did more harm than good. Kudos to Alaska for making a good business decision.
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