American Airlines
..Money Hungry and Customer Service Foolish
As a seasoned traveler, logging well over 100,000 miles of air travel, I am baffled by what happened to me today (11/6/2010). The results of that experience are a firm commitment to never again fly American Airlines and, further, to aggressively spread the word of that company’s customer service dysfunction.
Disclaimer: As a business man of 25 years, I understand fully that companies must be profitable. Making money is not a sin. It is the profits produced by appropriate revenue streams that employ the workers, provide shareholder equity and fuel our economy. That is not my issue.
The Event: At the conclusion of an out of state business trip, the last day’s appointments canceled. Elatedly, I embarked on my travel home. Having been lucky enough to find a skilled customer service agent who understood the business value of a happy customer, I was booked on an earlier flight home so I could be reunited with my family. The itinerary required an unfortunate 2 ½ hour layover in Chicago but that is how the ball bounces when one travels. The travel gods were with me and we arrived at O’Hare 5 or so minutes early. Upon checking with the gate agent, I learned that there was indeed an earlier flight that left in a scant 30 minutes. I raced from O’Hare terminal L to terminal G to find the boarding door open and the flight in the middle of its boarding procedure. The gate agent was pleasant, informed me that there were plenty of open seats and began typing on his keyboard. That is when all the fun started.
“We can put you on this flight for $50, sir” is what the gate agent said. Of course I calmly suggested that I didn’t want to change my ticket, simply fly stand by on a half empty plane that was already going to my destination, on the same day as I was already ticketed to travel. It wasn’t a request made via the telephone; I was physically standing at the gate, watching people board.
“Sorry, sir, American Airlines considers stand by to be a premium service and charges $50” was the only response that I could get to my repeated, calm and polite attempts to reason with the gate agent. I further asked what costs were associated with this “premium service” that had to be recouped by charging me $50. I asked him if it didn’t make sense to allow me on a plane that had open, coach seats and was already going to my destination. The response was the same. It was policy and a “premium service” that costs $50.
I realize that companies must have policies (whether or not I agree with them) and must require their front line employees, even those that “touch” the customer, to be mindlessly adherent. That is what managers are for. To make judgment calls. To operate in that grey area and insure that a company’s policies are not in conflict with its stated objectives and core values. So, I asked to speak with a supervisor. At first, my gate agent was rigid, claiming that the supervisor could do nothing for me. Finally, he picked up the phone and called his supervisor, requesting his presence at the gate. He was made to explain why I wanted to speak with the supervisor and then was told that every American Airlines supervisor in the airport was in a meeting and could not come to the gate, or otherwise deal with my request, until 35 minutes after the flight was scheduled to take off.
The Conclusion: So American Airlines won. And here I sit, in terminal H at O’Hare, waiting 2 ½ hours for my flight. The upside is that I have time to collect my thoughts, write them down and share them with you.
Shame on you American Airlines. Yes, you must be profitable and produce appropriate revenue streams so you can pay your employees and provide shareholder equity. But if abuse your customers and treat them poorly you will lose them, and you won’t need any employees or shareholders because you will be insolvent.
Hmmmmmmm
I am thinking back
..TWA
.Eastern Airlines.
Greed might be good, Michael Douglas, if you have a captured market and the sustainability to be greedy. Keep gouging your customers, AA, for no defensible reason and you won’t have to worry about standby policies. All of your planes will be empty. Maybe you can sell your planes to Southwest, they certainly understand CUSTOMER SERVICE. Perhaps that is why they are profitable and eating your lunch. If only they had service to the city of my most recent business trip. It would have saved me and American Airlines all of this trouble.
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