Comments on: Five steps to Customer Service Excellence for United Airlines (with real-life case study)

By: Ravindra

Ravindra — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 23:40:05 +0000

Appears as if the financials played better while on the task of understanding issues was on.
It is for this reason many experienced do not overly depend on simple marketing plans for customer response and feedback and involve operational experts to remain in loop during analysis and before answer.

By: christinabaita

christinabaita — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:26:59 +0000

First of all, my mouth just dropped while sitting in a public place no less when I read that United divulged the “extra” amount of money that the employees each received just for doing their jobs!This is indeed one reason why I personally work for a smaller airline versus a mainline (United, Delta, AA..)! The passengers feel like my guests and not just another number. I do not care how busy or “tired” they were. Shame on them for not attending to a business class passenger. An employee perhaps but not a paying business class passenger. I would never even ignore another employee even if it were to only say “excuse me for a moment please, I will be right back”.

As far as the response from the desk job at United: Did you really expect anything else but a form letter with a brief addition of name followed by a pitch? Other than the person I happen to be, this is another reason why I try and take extra good care of my passengers. If I don't do it, then who?

BTW, When I went through our form of First Class Training, they gave us the pitch BS also. The stuff that we did learn was common sense and this is just like any other job, lazy employees!

By: ashokneelakanta

ashokneelakanta — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 11:50:35 +0000

This problem exists in not just airlines but across businesses. The typical way of responding is often by dodging the issue. This is a classic case. Also, most companies feel by apologizing they become small, which is a shame.

By: Shashank Nigam

Shashank Nigam — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:16:24 +0000

Riyaz, good points. Though, I'd be skeptical of them being pro-active.
Because as it is, they're finding it difficult to be active

By: Riyasuddin(Riyaz) Rauther

Riyasuddin(Riyaz) Rauther — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:18:32 +0000

As Pasqualina said Speed of response is important and also I think legacy airline should be proactive along with active. They should initate communication with the passengers rather than waiting for passengers/customers to respond on their service and then act on it. To focus on the process of taking ideas from passengers/cutomers and implementing. This will make passengers part of innovation to better the service.

By: robin k

robin k — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 09:50:46 +0000

US airlines seem to respond the same way to compliments as well. That goes a lot to say about the improtance attached to a customer feedback (positive or negative). I had mailed a complimentary mail to US airways 2 months back complimenting the crew who handled the situation very well when we were stuck for 4 hours in a plane due to weather. All I got was an automated mail saying that I will be replied to x business days. Am still waiting for that to happen ! ! !

By: gayroberts

gayroberts — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 23:37:08 +0000

Answers to specific questions are hard to find anywhere. They mention that they are sorry you had a bad experience and the rest of the letter is computer generated. Customer service handled by real people has all but disappeared.

I have some standard phrases I use but I address the problem and find a way to solve it to the customer's satisfaction.

By: Shashank Nigam

Shashank Nigam — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:14:49 +0000

I don't think so too.

By: Shashank Nigam

Shashank Nigam — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 19:11:21 +0000

Indeed, a very good point Pasqualina. I know leading airlines like
Southwest and Singapore Airlines have 24-48hour deadlines on every
response. Speed certainly matters. That's the 6th step.

By: PasqualinaPetruccio

PasqualinaPetruccio — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:35:54 +0000

Well thought out , there is only on point that l would like to add: Speed of response is also important. From personal experience and from others l have spoken to on this subject, the longer an airline takes to respond, the more irate and frustrated people become. There is a feeling that you will get fed up with the delay or lack of response and take no further action. However, this just infuriates passengers and they embark on the own personal campaign to bad mouth the airline, and in this day and age of social media very easy and simple to do, damage can be done with far reaching effects more than ever before.

Regardless of what class you are flying, and your status of frequent flier should not make any difference, the same level of customer service should be given. Which is a double edged sword, as a frequent flier myself, l do and expect to be treated slightly better as l am showing my loyalty to that brand by using them regularly.

Price whilst important is not the only criteria when booking a flight, l like many other would rather pay slightly more to travel with an airline that l perceive will give me a better customer service.

All airlines, and especially the LLC’s have to learn and understand that customer service is key to increased passenger numbers and to get the competitive edge.

Let’s see if United Airlines do listen.