Katie: Welcome back to the BusinessMakers Overtime Show, heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. Thanks for joining us in chapter two where we get to hear a pretty cool technology that not everybody knows about Esther. I am pretty excited about hearing from the one and only Ken Price, who is the Director of Passenger Revenue at Boeing.

Esther: There is no doubt in my mind that our entire listening audience is familiar with Boeing because if they've ever traveled on an airplane, they have been familiarized with your project. So as Director of Passenger Revenue, what are your responsibilities?

Ken: Oh, and that's what I love about my job. I have a lot of responsibilities. Anything that falls under the heading of helping our airline customers make more money with our airplanes, I get involved in everything from passenger preference research to interacting with our engineering teams to make sure things that create preference for an airplane type are designed into the airplane. I work with airlines to make sure their revenue management systems are extracting revenue for all the cool things our airplanes have to offer. So everyday I'm doing something different.

Esther: That's awesome. So you've been with Boeing for 20 -

Ken: About 25 years now.

Esther: Wow.

Ken: A long time.

Esther: So 25 years, that's pretty incredible. And you've been with them actually in a variety of capacities, you haven't always had this position. How has being on a lot of different teams helped you understand the customer better?

Ken: Oh, I think it's made a huge benefit; and also it helps know our product better that we can describe it in detail to the customer. I think marketing airplanes are different than marketing a lot of other things in that they are such highly technical complex machines that my background in engineering and flight operations and pilot training and flight tests helped give me a really full picture of the airplanes, which in turn allow me to tell a really compelling story about those airplanes to our customers.

Esther: Very cool. You have an engineering background.

Ken: I do.

Esther: That's your education is engineering.

Ken: Yep, undergraduate and graduate degrees both in Aeronautical Engineering and then I spent 19 years designing and/or flying the airplanes before I move to Marketing.

Esther: Amazing. So you really understand airplanes. You grew up in this industry.

Ken: I did. I was one of those little kids that every time a little plane went over I looked up at it from three years old on.

Esther: Very cool. So you're concerned with the passenger experience and kind of that human factor of flying. Explain to me what that means. What does it mean to be involved with the customer on such an intimate level?

Ken: Well what we do is if you think about it for our airline customers, the entire perception of their airline is the service they get, but the airplane those passengers walk into. So what we do with a passenger experience, the knowledge we gain, the designs we do, the things we put in the cabin, are directly gonna influence what the end passenger thinks of our customer, the airline; so it's critical work.

Esther: Absolutely. So what are some of the ways that you work with Boeing to improve the customer experience?

Ken: So what we've done - a 787 is a good example because we changed how we do business a little bit. For the first time, we didn't go to our airlines and say, "What do you want in an airplane?" We went to their customers. So we did about ten years worth of passenger preference research -

Esther: Ten years.

Ken: Ten years, and then we found out a lot of really cool new stuff we never knew before that really made people happy in an airplane. And then I took that, and because of my background in engineering, I worked with our airplane designers to make sure all those cool things are in the airplane.

Esther: That's great. And how do you use marketplace insights? I know you guys use a lot of marketplace insights to improve your airlines. How do you do that? What kind of insights in marketplace itself do you look at?

Ken: What we look at, and again, I think the biggest insight which I touched on before is, "What people feel about the flying experience today, what they feel they're missing, and what they feel they need."

Esther: Of course.

Ken: And we got a ton of insights recently about the traveling passenger, which before that, we Boeing never worried about. We always said to our airlines, "What do you want?"

Esther: So a few years back, Boeing introduced their elite flying machine, "The Dreamliner", isn't that correct?

Ken: We did.

Esther: So this state of the art plane, you made tons of improvements to it; what did the Dreamliner do for your customer satisfaction?

Ken: Oh, well a lot of things for the airlines who are our direct customer, they love it, because the big novel thing about the Dreamliner, it's not an aluminum airplane like airplanes are today, it's composite. So it's basically stronger, lighter, much more efficient, better on the environment. For lack of a better term, it's a plastic airplane. And this makes the airplane very efficient. Now what changes we made for our customer's customer, the passenger, is because of the airplane's composite; we are able to even improve the physical environment, not just bigger bins, nicer lighting, more sense of space. But the composites allow us to put more pressure and humidity in the cabin. We have cleaner air than we've ever had in any airplane before. So we didn't just look at the design elements that your eye picks up, but we've looked at all of things that your body doesn't like about flying long haul and fixed it with pressure, humidity, cleaner air. So revolutionized everything.

Esther: Very cool. So how important is the lighting and the kind of psychological stuff?

Ken: We did all sorts of psychological research. For example, a significant amount of work on lighting. So if you get inside the Dreamliner or any of our other new airplanes that have come along since the Dreamliner, we have completely different lighting. And not only in terms of colors and everything, but LED lighting has advanced to the point that we now have LED lighting standard in this airplane. Great engineering characteristics in terms of light emission, power consumption, heat generation. Coolest part about LED lighting for the passenger, LED lights can emit color. And the Dreamliner, their LED lights can be programmed by each airline independently, so an airline can have their own sunset and sunrise, -

Esther: Wow!

Ken: - it's fabulous for your sleep cycles -

Esther: Oh my goodness.

Ken: - because on airplanes today you know, when you wanna go to sleep, "boom" the lights go dark. Or you know how they wake you up, "kaboom" the cabin goes really bright, really fast. Not a really pleasant way to go to sleep or wake up. In the Dreamliner, an airline can program in a nice sunset with some pinks and oranges on the sidewalls; and we've used lighting a lot in the Dreamliner.

Esther: What about fuel efficiency? Are you guys trying to improve that right now?

Ken: We have the 787 will be the most fuel efficient airplane flying for two reasons. It is a composite airplane, so it is significantly lighter than aluminum on the order of tons and tons and tons. And we developed a brand new type of engines. We offer General Electric and Rolls-Royce engines on the airplane that are far more efficient. So the fuel mileage on this airplane - this airplane burns about 20 percent less fuel than any airplane flying today -

Esther: Wow.

Ken: - so it's a huge difference.

Esther: So there's no doubt that improving the Boeing experience is sort of or partially fueled by this international pickup of people interested in getting into the aircraft market. Bombardier for instance is coming at ya. They say 2013 they're gonna be here, they're gonna be ready, they're gonna take Boeing on.

Ken: Yeah.

Esther: So what does that mean for you guys? How do you respond to that?

Ken: We have to be sharp, you don't wanna dismiss anybody. If anyone would think Boeing would have the inclination that, "Ah, they're small; they're building little jets; we don't have to worry about 'em," well Airbus was a little company at one point too.

Esther: Oh yeah.

Ken: And I would say Embraer of Brazil and Bombardier of Canada and the new Chinese jet that you're hearing a lot about, not yet competitors to Boeing Airplanes, but trust me, they're very capable and we have our eye on 'em.

Esther: What is on the horizon for Boeing?

Ken: Oh, a lot of good things. The new airplanes that are on the horizon, we have three exciting things that'll be flying the public around very soon. The first is the 787 Dreamliner. It is flying today. We have four airplanes up in a flight test program not yet carrying passengers, but by the end of this year the Dreamliner 787 will be carrying passengers - paying passengers all over the world.

Esther: Congratulations.

Ken: Thank you. It's a great airplane. And you know, first flights are an unusual thing, but we actually had a separate first flight just last month - our brand new 747-8, the biggest commercial airplane Boeing has ever built took to the skies for its first flight just last month. That is also in flight test concurrently with the 787.

Esther: Wow.

Ken: The freighter version of that will be making money for cargo airlines carrying freight around the world soon. And it will be carrying passengers around the world. The passenger version in 2011.

Esther: Is that one gonna have a shower in it or something?

Ken: If an airline wants it, it could have, believe it or not. (Laughter) It actually could.

Esther: (Laughter) I'm imagining a shower in that airplane.

Ken: And then our brand new 737 interior that makes it look really like a little Dreamliner. That starts rolling off the assembly line in October. It's especially appropriate that I'm in Houston because Continental Airlines is the US launch customer for both the 787 Dreamliner and this brand new cool interior on the 737. So Continental's proving that they care about keeping a young fleet and keeping their airplanes preferred by their passengers.

Esther: Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for being here. This has been eye-opening for me and I think it has been for our audience as well, so thank you.

Ken: You're welcome. Happy to be here.

Katie: So I think that this might be the first time I have said this in my young life, but I can not wait to step onto a commercial craft that is like the Dreamliner.

Esther: Oh yeah.

Katie: That is amazing.

Esther: Absolutly. Actually its going to be really awesome, they actually have four of these in test right now and Continental is one of the test markets.

Katie: Very cool. And, of course, we are based out of Houston, which is Continental land. I hope that I will be able to submit my ideas for improvements, like the gummy bear dispenser that I have always dreamed about on airplanes. (Laughter) But that might not fail into passenger revenue considerations. (Laughter)

Esther: I do not know, it will make me pretty happy.

Katie: Well great conversation, I really enjoyed it.

Esther: Thank you. Now stay tuned in for another Business Survival Tip with Carl Kleimann of Odyssey One Source.

Carl: Hello business owners this is Carl Kleimann from Odyssey One Source with another Business Survival Tip. With unemployment tax rates on the rise in most states, it is more important than ever for employers to diligently contest unwarranted claims for unemployment benefits. The amount of unemployment tax that you pay goes up in directly relation to the number of former employees who are collecting unemployment from you. You should treat every claim as if you were paying for it out of your own pocket.

State unemployment benefits are designed for people who lose their jobs due to no fault of their own. This includes lay-offs and in most cases, terminations for job-related performance. Unemployment benefits are not intended for those who are fired for misconduct or quit without good cause. Of course anyone can file a claim for unemployment benefits and it is your duty as an employer to contest those claims that are unwarranted.

When a claim is filed, you will receive notice from your state unemployment agency. In Texas, that is the Workforce Commission for example. Typical information you will need to provide includes the employee's length of employment, annual wages and whether the employee voluntarily quit or was fired. If an employee was fired, you'll need to explain the reasons for the termination. Fill out the form and return it by the deadline or request an extension. If you miss the deadline, chances are the employee will automatically be awarded unemployment benefits.

If the claim is scheduled for a hearing before the state unemployment agency, you should attend. Hearings are often conducted by phone. Be prepared to present your case and provide any supporting documentation. You are not required to be represented by an attorney at such a hearing.

If you lose an unwarranted claim at the hearing, file an appeal. You should consider hiring an attorney to assist you with your appeal. If you lose upon appeal, you may have the right to appeal again but you should carefully weigh the cost and benefits of doing so.

I am Carl Kleimann and this has been another Business Survival Tip by Odyssey One Source, ranked as the number one Professional Employer Organization three years running by the Black Book of Outsourcing. For more information on this and other issues affecting employers, please visit www.odysseyonesource.com.

Esther: You're listening to The BusinessMakers Overtime Show heard here and online at thebusinessmakers.com. Now stay tuned as we talk about an experience economy and how it can work for you.