LONG post, Airlines and Customer Service 101—someone slept through the first class

It never ceases to amaze me when I see poor customer service actually built into the way a large organization operates. Case-in-point: the abysmal customer service processes employed by airlines. Since January 7, 2002, I've flown almost every week on a commuter “service” owned by a major travel services company out of Dallas, Texas. If what I've experienced is typical, it's no wonder the industry is in trouble.

The airlines suffered a downturn even before 9/11. The resulting economy can certainly be blamed for part of the problem, but things were amiss even before the infamous 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. Have you ever experienced a flight delay of any magnitude when you're trying to use the airlines? Let me tell you, it's not getting any better—it's getting worse.

Scary Example—just in time for Halloween

On the afternoon/evening of Sunday, October 27, 2002, I saw some of the worst of what the airlines have to offer. Mechanical and weather problems put the gate staff in a position that they only made worse by the way they repeatedly set and fell short of the expectations of waiting passengers. By the time it was all over, almost five hours later, the crowd had turned into a rabble and security had to be called. Customers were literally shouting at the gate agents, sometimes even en masse, ala a 70s protest march. Gate agents were walking away from customers, saying “I don't have to take this…” and, “…I only make $11.00 an hour.”

The whole ugly scene could have been diffused by better internal communication between gate agents, operations, and maintenance, and—most of all—by a few very minor changes in setting customer expectations. The changes would not cost the airline anything, and would keep customers coming back. Instead, customers are chased into the waiting arms of better run airlines such as Southwest and Midwest Express whenever there is an option.

The Juicy Details

So what happened? How could an everyday situation go so completely awry?

First, the scenario. Our story begins at DFW Airport, where flights arrive and depart from a main terminal and a nearby satellite building. Most of these flights go to smaller markets such as Grand Rapids, Lubbock, Milwaukee, College Station, Shreveport, etc. When there is enough room, aircraft pull right up to one of the terminals. Other planes park somewhere on the tarmac and load/unload passengers that the airlines transport to and from the terminal by bus. This situation is decidedly messy because only experienced passengers know if they are getting directly onto the plane, on a bus to the plane, or a bus to the satellite terminal. The gate agents are already at a disadvantage because people in this situation feel like cattle, and resent it.

As I mentioned earlier, this night two problems were deviling the staff: maintenance and weather delays. Those who travel infrequently can get pretty upset by these problems alone, because they don't understand the airlines' limitations. At least weather delays are totally out of the hands of the airlines, and just simply can't be helped. Maintenance problems are a less cut-and-dried. They can be caused by equipment manufacturers, old worn-out planes, new unproven planes, poorly managed maintenance programs, parts unavailability, and a host of other complications—up-to-and-including Airworthiness Directives from the FAA that can ground a whole fleet.

This particular day, a cadence appeared to be setting up:

1. Planes would arrive late, mostly due to weather
   
2. A boarding time would be announced to waiting passengers, now excited with anticipation
   
3. An announcement would then follow telling the passengers the plane had to go to the hangar for maintenance
   
4. Passengers would be informed that they would receive an update at a specified time and that no one should leave the gate area
   
5. The specified time would come and go with no announcement
   
6. Passengers would approach the gate agents for an update, only to be scolded with the terse statement “we're busy, we'll tell you when we know something, please sit down and wait”
   
7. Two to three infrequent announcements would be made promising new update times
   
8. Repeat steps 5, 6, and 7, until…
   
9. The flight would board or be cancelled
   

Several more incidents were thrown into the mix to make it even more interesting. In at least two cases, passengers were taken out to a plane on the tarmac, only to be brought back to the terminal because a maintenance problem was discovered during a “safety check.” At one point late in the repetition of the above sequence for my flight to Milwaukee, a gate agent got on the intercom and said, “Maintenance has told me not to call them back for another 15 minutes. I will dial them in exactly 14 minutes and 59 seconds, and I'll let you know what I find out.” In true form, the agent did not call maintenance and make an announcement when promised, and 10 minutes after the promised announcement time, almost five hours after the scheduled departure, the flight information disappeared from the gate television monitor.

“Our flight's been cancelled,” I said to my fellow would-be passengers.

“They wouldn't do that,” someone next to me said.

They would. And they did.

Every Mistake in the Book

At this point, anything agents could offer passengers would be too little, too late. What followed was a series of text-book examples of how to make a bad situation worse.

• Angry people were offered hotel rooms and transport to their rooms. No one would be provided transport vouchers to get them back to their friends, relatives, or homes in the area.
  
• Bags would not be retrieved—though everyone believed the plane was presumably still on the ramp and accessible.
  
• One hundred dollar vouchers were offered to people, who now considered it an insult. By now it was like giving someone $20 for running over their dog.
  
• Meal vouchers were offered that couldn't be used because restaurants in the area were now closed (everyone was now starving, because they were glued to the gate for nearly five hours).
  
• Customers waiting in line at the gate for re-booking were redirected to another gate next door. The agents at that gate initially would not perform re-bookings because no official announcement had been made over the intercom (everyone else on the planet now knew the flight was cancelled).
  
• When they were finally re-booked, passengers were placed on the first flight for the next day, which was already drastically overbooked. Many were told they had confirmed seats, but on checking later that night with reservations, I personally only had a confirmed ticket, not a confirmed seat. I got one then, but there were only two left on the entire plane.
  
• For my own personal situation, I got out my “Platinum” frequent flyer card. On the back is listed a Platinum “Hot-Line.” Expecting to be able to turn to an advocate in my plight, I called the number and reached a person who could only handle reservations and could not take or pass-on a complaint. I was directed to hang up and call a number—not a toll-free number—where a customer care specialist could help me…except they were closed until the next morning.
  

Angry passengers literally stormed out of the area, screaming at gate agents. At least one gate agent told a woman, “I don't have to take this cr*p,” and left the desk to hide behind a pillar. Another agent said, “don't yell at me, I only make $11 an hour.”

Policy and Process Fixes

There are a few things that gate personnel could do, if they were trained and informed, that could help diffuse a scene like this before it even happens. First, they have to understand that every move they make is going to contribute to a snowball effect. There is no way to predict that they're going to have one of these nights, but they have to make sure their everyday actions are not going to help one come about.

Then,

1. Announcements concerning weather delays can be blamed on FAA regulations, which would be true in almost all cases. “The flight has been [delayed/cancelled] because conditions at the [destination/this] airport are unsafe for landings and take-offs, and have exceeded the limitations of FAA regulations. We apologize, as these are circumstances beyond our control.”
   
2. Every promised announcement must be made, and at the promised time, even if it is to say, “We promised to make an announcement at this time. Maintenance is still trying to fix the problem and has no further update for us. We'll make an announcement in 25 minutes to let you know if we've learned anything new.” This maintains the credibility of the gate agents, who at least don't lie about the coming announcement. This was the single biggest “running mistake” made by the agents on this particular night. When it was all over, the customers believed that everyone associated with the airline was a liar-an impossible situation when you now have to get everyone calmed down and rebooked. If agents can't keep track of the time, supply them with 5-10 kitchen timers at the gate desk. Give them a grease pencil to mark the flight number on the timer, then have them set the timer for each instance that they promise an announcement “25 minutes from now.” Give them authority to break away from a customer momentarily to make an announcement when the timer rings.
   
3. Make one person responsible for all announcements on a given flight. Make sure they are empowered to make this a priority, so they aren't away from the gate chasing down another problem when announcement times come. This helps customers feel that someone is responsible and tracking the problem closely.
   
4. If the plane's status remains indeterminate, give gate agents the authority to allow people to leave the gate while you hold the flight for a given time. If customers have been stranded at the gate for an hour-and-a-half or two hours (decide when a reasonable threshold time is), let them have an hour and 15 minutes to leave the gate for food and hold boarding until that time is up. Tell them the risk of returning late (missing the flight), pledge to have an announcement when they return and that you won't start boarding until that time. Require flight operations and gate agents to coordinate for departure “slots” in the flight schedules.
   

Summary

I am sure there are plenty of rules that would make the preceding difficult to implement. Sometimes the point arrives when a company-and perhaps a whole industry-needs to reassess. Perhaps the rules are stupid rules, and they need to be changed.

For certain, we airline patrons are desperate for something to change that will improve our plight. But then what do I know, I'm just a “pesky customer.”

As a parting word, I have come to one great realization that I think is important to share with you: God created airlines and teenagers just to remind us that, in life, we can't control everything.

© 2002 M. A. “Ryan” Yuhas
InterDimension Strategies Inc.