It's both a fact and a reality of airline travel that from time
to time, a traveler will encounter some unpleasurable occurrence. For a
number of reasons, and even at times for no fully recognizable reason,
we face delays. However, in the last month, I have seen first - hand the
behaviors, attitudes and perhaps training and personnel involved, often
determines whether a customer comes out of the experience with either
better or worse opinions of the airlines involved. Precisely how two
airlines reacted when their customers were adversely impacted should
serve as a valuable primer in customer service, both the to do's and the
do not's! This story may be about how two airlines behaved and responded, and trained their employees, but it is relevant for anyone who wishes to succeed, whether in a product - based business (selling a product), or a service - business (such as real estate, investments, etc.)
1. A couple of years ago, my wife, eldest son, his girlfriend and I were scheduled on a Jet Blue flight to Nassau, Bahamas. Boarding and taxiing seemed normal, but then we got the dreaded announcement from the pilot that there was a computer issue, and we had to return to the gate, in order to remedy the circumstance. While initially the crew could only offer us an idea of how long the delay would be, the airline decided that if anyone wished to disembark, he could, and could then reboard when the issue was resolved. While we experienced a two hour delay, and certainly no one was pleased, this airline immediately decided to behave proactively, and even before we departed, issued a credit to every passenger's travel account. Obviously, this was a token gesture, but merely the attitude of making it up to the passengers, indicated why this company has been consistently rated extremely highly in customer service analyses, etc.
2. About a month later, my 24 year old son was traveling from Philadelphia, to meet us in Fort Lauderdale. He boarded his US Airways flight as scheduled, they began to taxi, and then about 90 minutes later, returned to the terminal because of a mechanical issue. Obviously, this will happen, but what this airline then did may offer a glimpse into the other aspect of customer service (or perhaps it should be referred to as disservice). The airline determined that the plane issue could not be remedied immediately and brought another plane around to replace it. However, since this plane was both narrower and shorter, approximately 30 passengers became further disenfranchised because they needed to wait, were then told to move to the side, and then were told they would not be able to go on this flight. Needless to say, hours passed, and as time ensued, passengers became more and more irate. They were given little information, and there was no immediate attempt to get them on another flight. In my son's case, rather than taking a flight that should have arrived in Fort Lauderdale at approximately one in the afternoon, after much ado, was placed on a flight that departed Philadelphia and approximately 7 PM, and flew to Miami International Airport (slightly over 30 miles away) and arrived at about 10 PM. Of course, his baggage ended up flying separately to Fort Lauderdale, and fortunately arrived there the nest day, and we had to go to airport to pick it up (not even an offer to deliver it, as some sort of customer - service based move to empathize with their customer.. Proactive customer service would have dictated that the airline would have at least offered to deliver the bag to our hotel, but instead, on Christmas Day, we needed to return to Fort Lauderdale Airport to pick it up. Wouldn't you have thought that at the very least, the airline might have offered some sort of food voucher, since my son would be staying there for about eleven hours?
The point of this is not to point figures, but rather to teach every business an essential lesson, which is to leave a customer satisfied. Which airline story would leave you with a better taste in your mouth? Which one would you use the nest time? Now that the offending airline has merged with another, would you now hesitate to use their merger partner in the future? True and quality customer service means empathizing, caring, addressing and fulfilling your promise, to each and every individual that does business with you. In other industries, this would mean being proactive in fulfilling actual or implied promises. For example, which real estate agent would you rather do business with, one that explained everything fully to you, figuratively held your hand throughout the process, and under - promised and over - delivered, and exceeded your best expectations throughout the process.
1. A couple of years ago, my wife, eldest son, his girlfriend and I were scheduled on a Jet Blue flight to Nassau, Bahamas. Boarding and taxiing seemed normal, but then we got the dreaded announcement from the pilot that there was a computer issue, and we had to return to the gate, in order to remedy the circumstance. While initially the crew could only offer us an idea of how long the delay would be, the airline decided that if anyone wished to disembark, he could, and could then reboard when the issue was resolved. While we experienced a two hour delay, and certainly no one was pleased, this airline immediately decided to behave proactively, and even before we departed, issued a credit to every passenger's travel account. Obviously, this was a token gesture, but merely the attitude of making it up to the passengers, indicated why this company has been consistently rated extremely highly in customer service analyses, etc.
2. About a month later, my 24 year old son was traveling from Philadelphia, to meet us in Fort Lauderdale. He boarded his US Airways flight as scheduled, they began to taxi, and then about 90 minutes later, returned to the terminal because of a mechanical issue. Obviously, this will happen, but what this airline then did may offer a glimpse into the other aspect of customer service (or perhaps it should be referred to as disservice). The airline determined that the plane issue could not be remedied immediately and brought another plane around to replace it. However, since this plane was both narrower and shorter, approximately 30 passengers became further disenfranchised because they needed to wait, were then told to move to the side, and then were told they would not be able to go on this flight. Needless to say, hours passed, and as time ensued, passengers became more and more irate. They were given little information, and there was no immediate attempt to get them on another flight. In my son's case, rather than taking a flight that should have arrived in Fort Lauderdale at approximately one in the afternoon, after much ado, was placed on a flight that departed Philadelphia and approximately 7 PM, and flew to Miami International Airport (slightly over 30 miles away) and arrived at about 10 PM. Of course, his baggage ended up flying separately to Fort Lauderdale, and fortunately arrived there the nest day, and we had to go to airport to pick it up (not even an offer to deliver it, as some sort of customer - service based move to empathize with their customer.. Proactive customer service would have dictated that the airline would have at least offered to deliver the bag to our hotel, but instead, on Christmas Day, we needed to return to Fort Lauderdale Airport to pick it up. Wouldn't you have thought that at the very least, the airline might have offered some sort of food voucher, since my son would be staying there for about eleven hours?
The point of this is not to point figures, but rather to teach every business an essential lesson, which is to leave a customer satisfied. Which airline story would leave you with a better taste in your mouth? Which one would you use the nest time? Now that the offending airline has merged with another, would you now hesitate to use their merger partner in the future? True and quality customer service means empathizing, caring, addressing and fulfilling your promise, to each and every individual that does business with you. In other industries, this would mean being proactive in fulfilling actual or implied promises. For example, which real estate agent would you rather do business with, one that explained everything fully to you, figuratively held your hand throughout the process, and under - promised and over - delivered, and exceeded your best expectations throughout the process.
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