Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Information Is Power


Information is power.  Sharing that information always makes customers more comfortable.

As a business traveler who flies over 200,000 miles per year on various airlines, I am used to delayed flights.  The delay of 1 hour and 15 minutes was not an issue.  What was the issue was the lack of assistance that the gate agent gave to passengers waiting for the flight.

Here are the details:
  • Flight scheduled to depart at 10:20am
  • Delayed to 10:40am
  • No announcements until 11:00am
  • At 11:00am the announcement said the plane was circling overhead but that they were waiting for the international planes to land. (really?!?)  The agent said that the flight would leave at 11:20am.
  • At 11:15am no plane, no announcement
  • Finally, 11:30am the plane lands, the passengers deplane, we board and take off.  The turn around time was in fact impressively quick.

Again, the delay was not the issue.  The issue was that there was no announcement until 40 minutes after the flight was scheduled to leave originally, and 20 minutes after the delayed time.  Then when that time came and went there was no other announcement.

I recognize that the gate agent may not have been armed with further knowledge of the planes arrival/departure time.  However she should be trained on how to better communicate with customers regarding what the status is.  Customers like to know.  Customers feel stress when they don’t feel that they have information.  She simply could have made additional statements when the flight was scheduled to leave, at the delayed time, and every 15 minutes after that.  Customers always feel better when the information (power) is shared. 

Finally, because there were no announcements most of the travelers came to the desk to ask about the status.  The agent responded in what I felt was a condescending answer: “you didn’t hear the announcement.  Oh well, the plane is overhead and we are scheduled to leave at 11:20.”  She repeated these same answers after 11:20 and with no regard for how long ago the announcement was made.  Saying, “you didn’t hear the announcement” is both patronizing and unhelpful. 

As I said, the delay was minor.  And the turn-around was impressive.  But the customer service at the gate was disappointing.  The gate agent has the responsibility to assist all of the customers waiting for their flight.  Airlines need to empower the agents with the authority to educate their customers and if they already do this, then they need to train agents to do a better job.

This is a slightly altered version (names, flight number, etc were removed) of a letter I sent to the airline today.  I will post their response.

2 comments:

  1. From Loni: Thank you for "ranting" about this and officially writing the airline! You represent us all. A little communication and courtesy can do so much to defuse frustration, stress, and dissatisfaction. I wish all airlines would monitor your blog for a glimpse into how they should provide customer service.

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  2. Thank you Loni. The airline sent me an automatic response saying that they would get back to me within 5 days. They replied in 4 days with another automatic response saying they were going to investigate and would get back to me within 45 days. I'll keep you updated.

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