A friend of mine recently complained about an awful experience when flying with China Eastern Airlines. She said her flight to Shanghai was diverted to Nanjing due to heavy fog. She and other fellow passengers were not put up in the accommodation they had been promised by the flight crew. Finally, they were forced to take a night train to continue their journey.

A week ago, I was studying the way China Eastern Airlines built up an international brand. The airline is extremely ambitious to become one of the world's top carriers. China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) wrote a case study of their business strategy eight years ago. The case has been studied by MBA students around the world since. These future business leaders tried to analyze the strategy and make recommendations. I was one of them. All of my team members were confident that the Shanghai-based airline had the advantages needed to realize its goal.

But now my confidence is shaken. As my team and other MBA students recommended, the core competency of an airline is service quality. And service is not limited to that provided in flight. Probably the best way to assess the quality of an airline's service is on the ground. Apparently, my friend's experience of being "abandoned" at Nanjing Airport is not unique. If the airline could not supply accommodation on the ground, why promise it? Has China Eastern ever estimated the damage done to their image after such a failed promise?

My friend said that all the passengers on the flight were outraged. Fifteen minutes after they got off the plane, nobody was there to attend them. The airline's ground service staff was nowhere to be found and Nanjing Airport staff said they were not responsible. Can you imagine what Singapore Airlines would do in the event of such force majeure?

I guess both China Eastern and Singapore Airlines would guarantee high-quality service but promising is one thing, delivering is another. A brand identity needs to deliver on its promises properly so that its customers can feel confident about the brand. Even unhappy passengers flying on Virgin Atlantic, a new player, will receive letters of apology from the airline's chairman if things go wrong. Without proper delivery of service, the build-up of anticipation will fade. Unhappy customers would tell their friends and relatives. The word-of-mouth effect will have a greater impact than China Eastern's million-dollar advertising campaign. I will think twice before taking a China Eastern flight. Also I will share my friend's experience with other friends.

Of course, China Eastern can say there were problems of co-ordination between the airline and Nanjing Airport. But this is more evidence of poor service. If the airline cannot handle a relationship with a domestic airport, how can it handle those with international airports? My team's recommendation is still valid: China Eastern Airlines should focus on its domestic market before any aggressive international expansion.

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