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Mark Ragan
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21
Why does customer service suck at most major airlines? Why do airline employees appear to detest their customers? I know it’s a pipedream, but wouldn’t it be cool if Delta or United Airlines explained why their workers seem so miserable?
The best corporate blogs succeed when they do the unexpected, when they take on bad news with jaw-dropping honesty and candor—and more importantly, when the post is deeply personal.
Is it really that hard to do? Let me take a stab at the lead:
“The customer satisfaction survey came out today, and once again we didn’t do as well as we would have liked. It’s been a tough time in our industry. Actually, it’s been a dreadful time—ever since Sept. 11, 2001. Our employees are human: They do backbreaking work only to watch as financial pressures deny them a raise or force a cut in benefits.”
But instead we get a blog post from Delta that tells us how to complain properly.
Nancy, a senior analyst with customer care, offered up the top ten tips for resolving a travel complaint.
Here are a few of my favorites:
No. 2 tip: Take good notes. “Rest assured, these complaints do get routed and read by managers.”
Oh yeah? Then why does nothing ever change? Besides, if I follow No. 2 tip I’d fill three legal pads before I reached “my final destination.”
No. 6 tip: Keep it short and polite. “It is easy to get bogged down in the detail when you have to read a lengthy complaint, and we may miss an important point that could weigh in your favor.”
How’s this for short and polite: Just flew your airline from Chicago to Delta. Your employees hate me. Can you do something about it?
Southwest Airlines comes the closest to offering a blog that is disarming in its candor.
When the FAA grounded its airplanes a few months ago, the airline spoke clearly and often about the allegations and even apologized at one point, something you rarely see in corporate PR.
Is it any wonder that Southwest Airlines has the highest customer satisfaction?
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