Today, British Airways announced it was planning to cut 3000 jobs by the end of the fiscal year due to falling passenger numbers and yields. I will guess that most airlines are going through similar challenges.
In an economy as bad as this one, customer service makes all the difference. Flyers may not have as many choices as we are a "semi-captive" audience due to the constraints of available flights and routes by airlines, but bad press is bad press. Don’t kid yourself as the next generation of frequent flyer will read stories like this and wonder what kind of business United is running.
The title of the article says it all:
Man denied first-class seat on United for wearing track suit
If you want to run your airlines into the ground what better way to do it that humiliate and embarass your best customers? The weak response in which United claims to have mistaken the passenger as a employee only adds insult to injury.
Nice try, United. How about admiting you have customer service problems and make amends. That’ll get you a lot farther than trying to tactically address every customer service blow-up that happens.
United, time to wake up and smell the coffee.
Getting to the airport at 5am on Monday mornings should be the least of our worries considering how hectic a traveling week can be. I was reminded of this after receiving an angry rant from a co-worker paraphrased as follows:
"I am *bleeep* fed up with taxis failing to show up on time. This morning I had to get my wife to drive me to the airport at 5am and I still ended up missing my flight. How hard is it to get decent *bleeep* taxi service in this city? Does anyone have a good referral for a RELIABLE car service?"
Car Service 1
Taxi Service 0
The truth is cab service can be unreliable, but there are better ways to remedy the situation than resorting to car service. I have nothing against car services, but I’ve met both good and bad cab drivers so I like to help them out as much as possible especially since many are struggling to make ends meet with gas prices so high.
Truth be known, I take a taxi to the airport every morning and I’ve been doing it for the past 2 years. It’s bad enough being stood up, but being stood up by a cabbie only to end up missing your flight and pro-longing a Monday morning commute, trapped in a crowded airport – that’s an experience I don’t wish upon any road warrior (even one who puts his carry-on AND his laptop bag into the overhead bin).
What I’ve done is found a good cab driver and given him the opportunity to make a steady weekly fare. All he needs to do is be at my front door at 5am every Monday morning without fail. I pay him the same fare every week and he always has my change ready to go. I don’t have to specifically arrange a ride for the morning – it’s a given unless I give him a call. A cab driver will go out of his way to be reliable if he/she can depend on a consistent stream of income. Most cab drivers know you will probably never meet again so being reliable is not essential to making money (although it usually helps with tips).
So my advice is find a cab driver with the following:
- A clean cab
- Doesn’t talk too much (I’m not a morning person)
- Is considerate with air conditioning and heating
- Always on time
- <Insert your personal requirements here>
Then offer the driver a steady fare and never have to worry about your Monday morning commute again. Just make sure you call your driver if you aren’t flying for the week - that’s just common courtesy.
Support the little guy and build up some good karma. May you always have a SAFE and QUICK morning commute.
I hate to make this into an "us" (frequent flier) versus "them" (airlines) but the airlines are making it very difficult for their best customers. The airlines would do well to take a few lessons on improving the customer experience and building customer loyalty. A frequent flyer program is not the answer to building customer loyalty and these days it highlights just how little they care about customer loyalty.
This Fortune Magazine article describes how one flyer, Mitchell Berns, had his original non-stop Delta flight canceled "due to weather" and found himself booked on another flight, with connections, for the next morning. After checking the National Weather Service, he discovered snow was forecast for 5am the next morning, hours after his flight was supposed to land. Other airlines were still scheduled to fly, but Delta refused to give him a refund so he could purchase a ticket on another airline. He paid for a JetBlue flight out of his own pocket and landed at his destination without incident.
Back at home, he filed a small-claims suit ($15 in NY) against Delta for the price of the JetBlue ticket and won when Delta failed to show up in court. Delta offered frequent-flier miles (yeah, right) and then attempted to negotiate a confidentiality agreement (I can see why Delta wouldn’t want this story to be picked up in the press). Berns counter-offered with $100 off if Delta paid within 2 weeks OR the confidentiality agreement - not both. Surprisingly (or not), Delta took the $100 off the original JetBlue ticket.
"The lesson is, Don’t let them bully you with bogus cancellations," says Berns. The whole thing took him about four hours, he recalls, resulting in earnings of less than half his hourly billing rate. "But I’d do it again," he says. "That’s how good it felt."
It’s always a good thing to stay positive, but don’t let the airlines take advantage of you, the customer.
Having done my fair share of call center analysis, not being able to communicate and find a resolution for a problem can be a very frustrating experience, especially if it takes longer than it should.
That said, customer service costs money based on length of handled calls (calls handled by humans) and number of calls (calls connected to a human). So use this website, http://www.gethuman.com/us/, wisely. You may end up kicking up prices for everyone, including yourself.
Keep in mind that getting to a human does not guarantee a good customer experience (do a Google search on lawsuits AOL). In fact, the difference between United Premier Executive customer service and the average United customer service is being connected to a person who’s first language is English versus one who lives in another country.
Food for thought.