I remember a business-school class in which our professor asked if we could think of any situations where other customers had a major influence on the quality and value of the overall customer experience. It didn’t take long to figure out that the caliber of customers who frequent a business - and the way they treat employees and one another- often play a vital role. In air travel, consider the difference between a flight where you’re sitting next to a noisy jerk on his cell phone and one where your neighbor sits quietly and maybe offers to share his newspaper. At a baseball game, a beer-swilling loudmouth can ruin the experience, while an avuncular neighbor who explains the nuances of infielder positioning to your kids can enhance it. In a hotel, you might have a thoughtful neighbor who keeps his TV volume low or an idiot who slams the door at midnight. In fact, other customers create a big part of our experience in retail stores, fast food, hospitals... most businesses, in fact.

This brings me to my last flight on JetBlue. A speech by one of the company’s execs alerted me that it had adopted Net Promoter, which of course made me pay close attention to my experience. The first difference I noticed was that the customers standing in line seemed friendlier. (It reminded me of my last experience on Southwest, which also happens to use Net Promoter.) One reason for the good cheer in the JetBlue line was that the check-in stations were fully manned and the queue of customers melted at an astonishing pace.

When I took my place in the security line, I was amazed at how friendly and contented the passengers seemed. Again, the line was moving rapidly. Even the security agents were friendly and helpful. One was chatting with people in the line - and instead of yelling admonitions about liquids and computers to everyone, he was exercising some judgment. He gave detailed instructions to the people who were clearly not frequent flyers. For the customers who knew the drill, he was simply friendly and wished us safe journeys.

At the gate, the agents seemed genuinely enthusiastic and totally in control.  The chief gate agent explained the boarding procedure in a clear and friendly voice. Customers actually followed the rules and boarded when their seats were called.  They moved into their seats quickly and avoided clogging the aisles.  When I got to my seat, a lady was struggling to lift a heavy carry-on into the overhead bin.  Before I could offer to help, the flight attendant scurried up and lifted it for her - with a smile. I had been in a similar situation recently on one of the major airlines. There, the agent offered not a helping hand but a scolding admonition about union rules, OSHA regulations, and her bad back.

I noticed a fresh wave of spontaneous helpfulness and goodwill break out among passengers who witnessed this act of thoughtful kindness. Other passengers began lifting bags, holding children, and generally behaving like good neighbors. It struck me that what I was witnessing was a chain reaction of helpfulness.  In a closed community like an airplane, acts of kindness tend to get noticed and multiply. The same goes for acts of rudeness.

What I subsequently learned from a JetBlue exec made me realize that all this customer goodwill was not just luck. The executive confided that flight attendants are trained to watch for specific opportunities to brighten a customer’s day, and lifting a bag into the overhead compartment is one of them.  I already knew that those acts of kindness motivated employees, and that their positive energy would lead to better service. But what I had overlooked was that customers pick up on these thoughtful actions - and since there are far more customers than employees, it is the ripple effect of goodwill and thoughtful actions spreading exponentially to other customers that really makes the difference. And talk about frugal WOW - this costs the airline next to nothing!