Denrael

It always matters. I’ve got an early Saturday flight today out of Atlanta and sam having then opportunity to witness a whole new concept of customer service.  In the past I’ve blogged about flight crews cutting in the TSA line. In that case, even though I log as many miles as a typical flight crew I was will g to gar t that give. Their pay structure, especially for flight attendants, they should be able to cut in line. What was annoying was the rude way in which they did.

Today, there are several flight attendants deadheading on my flight. I was standing at the front of the Sky Priority (oops, gave the airline away) line, and all of them moved in front of me pushi g me back. At first I assumed it was current crew, but no. They were non rev and merely felt it was their right to board first.

My problem with this is with the underlying culture it speaks of. All of us have witnessed the increase in passengers per plane, and along with that the reductio. In available flights. Many of us have participated in the extended holds on the Tarmac sitting on a hot plane so the airline could record an ontime departure, and, at the same time, keep the engines shut down to preserve fuel.

I have also watched flight crew keep their phones on, following a tight game, while at the same time admonishing us to power ours down.

Overall, I have good experiences when I fly. On rare occasions, I have great experiences. For example, I have never personally had a bad Southwest flight. There is a strong culture there of making sure their passengers remain more than loyal; that they remain advocates. Most of the legacy airlines however are still mired in the the thinking that a (diminishing value) frequent flyer program covers all sins.

I suggest that these airlines do one of two things; either have your staff take a trip on Southwest, or, send them to Disneyland to see what a difference a cast focussed on the customer experience can have.

I will apologize in advance to those rare crews that get it. You make a normal flight exceptional, and a bad flight bearable.  To the rest, think about what you do, and if you do cut in front of your passengers, at least smile and say “excuse me” or “thank you” so at least we feel we were politely dissed.

There is a phrase, put the customer first. Personally I think it depends. A company should put the employee first. That is the only way to build employees passionate enough to put the customer first. To all senior executives of the legacy airlines, I suggest you buy a pair of shoes from Zappos, or visit your local Trader Joe’s to see what an impassioned company experience feels like.