I'm in Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit and am looking forward to the a few days of networking and learning.
And while I have nothing to say about the conference yet because it hasn't started yet, I do have an experience to share with you.
As you know, I enjoy blogging about my customer service experiences... especially the bad experiences.
Why do I do this?
I place a very high value on customer service and am generally irked when policies or overzealous employees get in the way of the company's true reason for being... the customer.
Today I had an unusual encounter with a United Airlines representative.
I was scheduled to depart from Denver to Las Vegas around 3:30 pm. My associates and I boarded the plane without incident, and I was fortunate enough to have received a first class upgrade.
Ah... comfort.
The plane was loaded, the pilots were in the cockpit and the luggage was on board. All we needed now was to depart.
But for some reason, we weren't going any where.
Finally, I asked the flight attendant what was up. She sighed and told me she had never encountered anything like this in eighteen years.
As it turned out, there was another flight to Miami that had no pilot.
So they took our pilot and cancelled our flight, rebooking us on a flight that was to depart approximately one hour later.
Fine. No problem.
We got off the plane and head to the gate where the next flight was to depart.
Since we were in the front of the plane, we were among to first to arrive at the other gate for rebooking.
The nice lady at the counter assured the rapidly growing line of irritated customers that they had room for everyone on this next flight.
You could tell she was trying to squelch a revolt before it took place by being over accomodating.
Great.
So we got rebooked on the flight, but since it was a Ted flight, there were no first class seats.
I asked the representative to at least get us in the Economy Plus section where there is just a bit more room.
No problem. She takes care of us.
So you are wondering where the customer service issue is going to take place?
Here it comes...
The United representative at the gate calls for Seating 1 passengers to board the plane.
If you have ever flown United, you may know that they have two different entry points to the gate.
There is a "red carpet" for First Class and Executive Premier passengers and there is a "blue carpet" for everyone else.
As we approached the gate, there was absolutely no one else getting on board with Seating 1 assignment. So knowing that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, we walked on the red carpet to hand our tickets to the attendant and board the plane.
Are you ready for this?
She stared at me and told me in no uncertain terms that I should go back and use the blue carpet.
I said, "but there is no one here!"
She replies, "There is NO first class on this flight."
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Was she serious?
She took my tickets and asked if I was traveling with my associate. She needed to make sure because his ticket had Seating 3 on it. Heaven forbid he get on the plane early.
I assured her that he was with me and she gave us a stern warning as we boarded the plane...
"Next time use the BLUE carpet."
Oh. My. Goodness.
We laughed so hard as we boarded the plane, not believing that this woman was actually treating me in this way!
I didn't get her name and I might not post it if I did.
She shall be known as "Stupid United Employee", or SUE as it would be if it were an acronym. -)
Honesly, can someone explain to me the wisdom or benefit of scolding a regular customer for stepping on the red carpet to get on the plane when there is no one else in line?
Is there any possible sane reason for this kind of behavior?
I didn't even mention that fact that I HAD a first class seat on the flight that was cancelled because United decided to seize our pilot for another flight!
As Rush Limbaugh would say, I had an enounter with a "glittering jewel of colossal ignorance".
Hey United, here's what I think of your red carpet...
Pffft.
And the execs at United wonder why Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines are gaining ground while they themselves are sinking quickly.
This shining gem of wonderful customer service has been brough to you by the not-so-friendly skies, your friends at United Airlines.
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
February 24, 2008 12:36 AM
Ha! Now that is true blogging right there! I love it. Awesome post, very entertaining at your expense...
Ok, Joel.. so the question that remains I guess, are you still going to be a United customer?
I'll tell you one of the neat things about blogging for me. Close to a year ago I wrote a blog post about a terrible experience (at the time, my first) that I had with Dell.
I wasn't unprofessional with my post or anything like that... but I did speak my mind and fully explained how I got shafted. It wasn't but a week later when someone who worked from Dell dropped a comment on my blog and then later emailed me privately to attempt to correct the problem. And to be honest, it resulted in me continuing to do business with them and then doing a follow up blog post about the experience which scored them more free advertising.
Blogs are powerful... and I hope United catches wind of this so that they can take action on a serious opportunity that can totally help their business improve. In essence, by blogging about this experience, you're really giving them the opportunity to learn how they can improve. If they ignore that, then I guess you need to fly Southwest like me... I eat my peanuts, blog for about an hour and listen to the pilot crack some funny jokes over the loud speaker. Southwest is a fun flying experience for me. :)
February 24, 2008 04:16 AM
Sorry, but there is another way to look at this one. All day long, this attendant deals with people not listening to boarding instructions. People get on early and block the aisles, causing delays in loading the plane and eventual departure. To her (and perhaps even me) you are just another impatient passenger thinking they don't need to follow the rules because they don't feel like it. Oh sure, they all have their justifications, but it wouldn't be very good if everyone thought they had a reason they didn't need to "enter on the blue carpet". And I'm glad you didn't bring up the part of having a first class ticket on the lsat one. You didn't pay for it, right?
This one, unlike your last story, definitely has two sides.
February 24, 2008 04:58 AM
Oh, PLEASE!
Regardless of how umpteen other passengers may have abused the red carpet in that woman's experience, there is NO excuse for being rude, officious, huffy, disrespectful, unfriendly and just downright ornery, all in the same breath.
My question is this. "IF there was no FIRST CLASS on that flight, why, in the name of common sense, was there a red carpet even THERE, for goodness sake?"
United Airlines is not the only major transportation company with personnel issues to address, so it is patently unfair to single out one of many, when something similar could likely occur in the normal conduct of business on any airline. For instance, being stuck on a plane for 8 hours without nourishment or clean bathrooms comes instantly to mind. And to compound the issue, having to put up with ill-tempered crew to boot.
Joel and his associate, and indeed all the rest of us, expect to be treated with RESPECT even if they/we DO accidentally tread on the red carpet when it shouldn't even have been there in the first place.
Companies won't long exist without loyal customers, and one doesn't win the loyalty of a customer by being obnoxious, ornery and unwelcoming. It's a given.
February 24, 2008 09:23 AM
John says,
Ok, so do you have a bleeding heart for everyone with job stress? Sheesh... if you can't take the heat, get out of the kitchen. SUE's job comes with the understanding that she'll be dealing with idiot people. If this isn't something that interests her, she can get another job.
There is no "other side to this story", SUE is expected to maintain a standard of performance, otherwise it can lead to the termination of her position.
February 24, 2008 04:12 PM
Being a part of that "glittering jewel of colossal ignorance" that you call United Airlines employees, I have to agree with the previous poster John. At United we are required to board a certain way, we make numerous accouncements about the boarding process before, and during the process. To be perfectly honest, we would be better off talking to the carpet as much attention as we get paid. So forgive me if we get a little testy when someone ASSumes that because no one is boarding at that particular moment that that gives them the ok to board at their leisure through either lane ( albiet red or blue ). If everybody tried to board at the same time, through the same lane, we would never get a flight out (semi) on-time. For that kind of boarding you can go to Southwest for the 1,2,3 go-style boarding.
We try to make the process as stress free as possible, even if people don't pay attention. As for the TED filghts and the two lanes, yes TED doesn't have first class, but the red lane boarding is for First Class (when appropriate), GLOBAL SERVICE passengers & 1K passengers, who I can assure you travel on TED as well as United mainline and United Express flights.
Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely - no - reason for the agent to be rude or nasty, and I truly apologize if he/she was; but I find that most of the time when we are called rude/nasty is when we tend to point out to the passenger thier own faux-paus, not ours.
I was there the day you had your trouble with the Vegas flight, and I can assure you that in my 25 years with United I have never heard of that happening either. Again, if you were treated poorly or inappropriatly, I humbly apologise and ask that if you ever have that problem again, please ask for Service Director Robb Silverberg.
I look forward to serving you again in Denver very soon!
February 24, 2008 06:34 PM
I should have added that there is no excuse for being rude. Even when dealing with customers with a highly inflated value of their worth and a feeling that they are above the rules that help keep society civilized. But then, that seems pretty common these days. If feeling nostalgic for a time when people were courteous to each other, not just their customers, makes me a bleeding heart, then I'm guilty. (The customer, especially these days, is NOT always right)
February 25, 2008 12:38 AM
"As it turned out, there was another flight to Miami that had no pilot."
The above statement really shocked me.
I don't care what color the carpet is, but it has more to do with empowering your employee.
If you do it right, everyone is happy.
Thanks for this complaint, now I know which frequent flyer credit card to go for.
February 25, 2008 01:15 AM
Thanks
February 25, 2008 03:33 AM
Ha, that reminds me of that scene in "Meet The Parents" when there is no one in the seating area while the service rep is calling seat numbers and she won't let Ben Stiller board until his row number is called.
Classic!
February 25, 2008 12:58 PM
Hi Joel;
Glad to see someone is not afraid to speak out
to the big Co's. I have done the same in the
past and have never regretted it.
Keep up the good work and keep us posted.
Those big Co's. and big box stores need to know
how the customers feel, and why they are loosing
our business.
----------------------------------
February 25, 2008 03:33 PM
Reminds me of a time some friends and I went to an all night coffee shop for pie and coffee. It was about midnight. There was no one else in the restaurant except the waitress and the owner. We sat at a booth.
After we ordered pie and coffee, the waitress then came back and told us we had to move to the counter because the booths were reserved for people who were there to eat a meal. She pointed to the sign on the wall by the booth.
We said we were going to eat pie (who's to say that is not a meal!) And we offered that if a bus load of meal eaters came in we would happily move.
She ran it by the boss and he said no. We had to eat our pie at the counter.
So we left.
We did tip the waitress for the coffee, but told her to forget the pie order we were outta there...
BTW that restaurant is no closed.