Improving Customer Service. Your Thoughts?

Screaming_Emu said:
The next day we had a passenger miscount and he refused to give them the number of people we had on our plane. Instead he said "you figure it out and when our numbers match we'll tell you". It was like flying with a pouty preschooler. I really learned a lot in that sometimes I should not worry about pissing the captain off if it results in getting things done and getting our passengers to where they want to go.
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I agree with most of your post but I take issue with the pax count. 99.9% of the time when they've asked what count we have for pax, they then take the load sheet, cross out their number, write down what we told them, and hand it back to us. Sorry but that doesn't fly. So for the 0.1% time that they are actually going to go back and confirm the proper count, I'll take the hit. It may take a little extra time but the correct pax count is important as sometimes it can prevent misconnects.

I think IAD rampers and gate agents were the kings of "well how many do you have on board? 28. Ok. <scribbles on sheet> Here you go." I will never forget what happened once when I was an FO. We land in State College, PA and one of our passengers gets off the plane asking if this plane would be continuing on to take him to Dallas...
 
Doug Taylor said:
That's exactly what kept me in school, off the streets and fully interested in aviation.

Every time you take a little interest in a kid, ask him some questions and show him around a little, you might be changing that kid's life, just like it did mine.

I still remember. It was a United 727 from Visalia to San Francisco, the crew brought me to the cockpit, sat me on the jumpseat and gave me a tour and talked to me about what each did. Thirty years later I still think about that.
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Mine was a DAL 727 sitting at the gate in CVG....... the OLD gates in CVG.
 
I hate when I type a drawn out response to something and it just disappears. Oh well... here it goes again.

You get what you pay for...plain and simple. If a company really wants to improve their customer service, they'd increase the pay to attract a more qualified and professional workforce. The problem is the companies don't really care about customer service or it's atleast not at the top of the priority list.

A company should also protect it's "brand" by getting rid of all regional carriers and operate regional aircraft themselves. Or have all regionals fly under their own brand and livery. That way, those regionals are held accountable for their own service problems.

I'm not wanting to start a deregulation vs. reregulation debate. But I will say that at some point competition between air carriers turned away from customer service into nothing more than a price war.
 
Rocketman99 said:
I agree with most of your post but I take issue with the pax count. 99.9% of the time when they've asked what count we have for pax, they then take the load sheet, cross out their number, write down what we told them, and hand it back to us. Sorry but that doesn't fly. So for the 0.1% time that they are actually going to go back and confirm the proper count, I'll take the hit. It may take a little extra time but the correct pax count is important as sometimes it can prevent misconnects.

I think IAD rampers and gate agents were the kings of "well how many do you have on board? 28. Ok. <scribbles on sheet> Here you go." I will never forget what happened once when I was an FO. We land in State College, PA and one of our passengers gets off the plane asking if this plane would be continuing on to take him to Dallas...
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Right, I understand that idea. The problem I had with this was that this was over the ramp frequency and it deteriorated into him saying "I'm not going to tell you" and the ramp coordinator saying "well I'm not going anywhere so call me when you give in".
 
KLB said:
I'm not wanting to start a deregulation vs. reregulation debate. But I will say that at some point competition between air carriers turned away from customer service into nothing more than a price war.
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I agree, but on the flip side is the reality that this has been going on across industries for some time now... personalized service vs. Walmart. Local coffee shop vs. Starbucks. etc.

And it's the public that enables this to happen.


The other day in LAX, I overheard two passengers looking around the terminal, stressed to their wits end, talking about how 'awful' the airport was and how they would never fly through LAX again. I had to wonder what exactly was so bad that happened to them. The only flights delayed that day were to JFK (by 2hrs), and even then they are safely flying across a pretty large continent in a matter of hours...

Anyway, no matter what you do you can't please everybody!
 
Every post here has good ideas about how to improve customer service. And, strangely enough, NONE of it has to do with catering.

Which is EXACTLY what I said on the other thread. Its NOT A RESTAURANT!!!

Its a seat from A to B. Get them there in one piece, on time, give them the info you know they want and say goodbye to them as they deplane.

If they have a gripe, hand them a customer comment card.
 
I talked to some passengers in Tel Aviv a few months ago and indeed, they left El Al and came to Southernjets because of customer service and food quality.

You'd guess El Al would have that kosher thing down pat, but apparently not! ;)
 
I always try to help out with pax at the gate if im early. The other crews always seem to hide in the corner, but I dont mind. I even had an old pax call me a "sweet young man" once, it made it all worthwhile.

Theres a lot of things we as air crew cant help them with, but if theres anything I can to make the process smoother, easier or more enjoyable, I try to do it, as long as it doesnt interfere with my primary duties of flying the plane (and drinking my starbucks) ;)
 
KLB said:
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You get what you pay for...plain and simple. If a company really wants to improve their customer service, they'd increase the pay to attract a more qualified and professional workforce. The problem is the companies don't really care about customer service or it's atleast not at the top of the priority list.
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Yes and no. Sure you want to attract the top talent, but higher pay might not do it. I was getting $6 an hour at Disney, and I could well have just slacked off. Would higher pay really change that, or would you just get more people applying for the job since it paid more? The main problem I see is a pure lack of pride in the job being done. I don't care if I'm an airline pilot or a dishwasher, I take pride in my work. I get a great deal of satisfaction when I pull into the gate after a challenging flight, and the passengers in the back don't even know what was up. If I were a dishwasher, I'd be the best damn dishwasher I could be. Some of the people we have in "customer service" right now are there for a paycheck and don't give a damn about their job performance. They do just enough to get by without being fired. If you upped the pay.....they'd still do just enough to get by.

So, how do you fix this? By getting middle and lower management involved on the front lines rather than counting beans, slashing hours on a schedule or other desk related tasks. If people know they'll get a "discussion" for providing poor customer service since management is out and about, one of two things will happen: they'll either find another job or they'll improve their performance. I hate to keep bringing up Disney, but that's pretty much what happens there. Management is always out walking in the area (and sometimes even hiding in the friggin bushes), so if you're not on your game or treat a guest with anything less than top level respect, you're gonna hear about it. We need to get customer service managers out of their offices and in the areas they're supposed to be managing. We also need to get rid of the "I'm not just your boss, I'm your friend" mentality as well. 9/10 that just drags the managers into the slacking off. At least that's how I've seen it go up in DTW.
 
Alright, I'll add my two cents. Just my own opinions...

First and foremost, don't get so worked up about everyone else's lack of customer service. You can't make the gate agent treat the customers with respect. However, you can compensate for what they lack with some above and beyond service of your own. Once the door closes, it's just the three of us in that airplane tasked with impressing the people we're carrying to their destination. I try to only worry about the things I can control, because there is no point wasting time on things I can't fix.

I honestly believe that the PA is one of our best customer service tools, if used properly. It's not an opportunity for you to practice your comedy act, nor should you make all announcements in a mundane, lack-of-emotion voice. I just talk on the PA like I'm talking to the customer face to face, and I leave out all the techincal jargon. If we're late for bags, I just say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we're holding for a few minutes waiting for some of your checked bags to make their way over here from the bag room. It shouldn't take too long, and then we'll be able to get underway." A good preflight announcement just tells them the facts. My toes curl when I hear the, "currently in Chicago, the winds are coming from the west and 15 knots, gusting to 25 knots, ten miles of visibility, with some broken clouds at twenty-five hundred feet..." Uh OK, so you can decode a METAR. When do you see any of those things in a Weather Channel forecast? It's a temperature, windy or not, cloudy or sunny. People just want to know if it was a mistake to wear shorts.

I sometimes believe that when it comes to talking to our customers, we feel like we are separated from them. I don't feel that way. Yes, I am taking you where you need to go today, but I'm not better than you. I'm just another human being, and I'm going to talk to you like one. If you need help finding your way, I'll do my best. If you're nervous about flying, I'll try to explain some things to you without scaring you. I sometimes watch pilots in the gate area, and it's like they fear the scrutiny and watchful eyes. They can't make eye contact with their customers. I'm not sure why, but it keeps them from opportunities to interact and make the travel experience more positive for the people we're carrying.

When I'm just sitting around, after accomplishing my preflight/postflight tasks, I'll also do things like help cross seat belts, move the gate-checked bags into the jetway, or help a wheelchair customer off the airplane. Sure, these aren't in my job description, and we can argue all day about the "OJI" angle of it. However, I want to interact with my fellow work groups. When the going gets tough, and "stuff" hit the fan, I'm going to need to rely on them. Do I want them to help out of respect for my epaulets, or respect for me as a person? Do you think they'll work harder one way or the other?

Ed had a great point about flying the airplane smoothly. All that stuff on the ground aside, if you fly your airliner like an F-16, no amount of PAs or bag tossing will make it a better experience for your customers. My toes curl when I fly with one of the "yank and bank" types.

Maybe I'll think of more stuff later. Interesting little tidbit: SWA actually has a lot of information about this type of stuff in the "Pilot Techniques" section of their flight manual. Good things written there!
 
FlyChicaga said:
First and foremost, don't get so worked up about everyone else's lack of customer service. You can't make the gate agent treat the customers with respect. However, you can compensate for what they lack with some above and beyond service of your own. Once the door closes, it's just the three of us in that airplane tasked with impressing the people we're carrying to their destination. I try to only worry about the things I can control, because there is no point wasting time on things I can't fix.
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I agree that we shouldn't worry about things out of our control, but unfortunately those gate agents are the front lines when it comes to our customers. If they get a bad experience thanks to a snotty gate agent, there's a HUGE uphill climb for us as pilots to accomplish to surmount that. Honestly, I doubt we'd have much of a chance to make that opportunity on one leg. Maybe I'm getting out of my job description when I see a gate agent treat a passenger rudely, but I can't help but try to tell the gate agent how they could have better approached the situation. Maybe it's due to the fact that was my job for several years in theme parks, but I HAVE to say something along with reminding them if that passenger chooses to fly another airline because of how they were treated, it reduces ALL of our job security at the airline we are employed.

Other than that, as usual, I agree with Matt 100%.
 
I read alot of specific techniques about customer service, but very few of the motivating factors (except kellwolf's Disney management hiding in the bushes).

What really needs to be asked is what makes a great customer experience? We've all had them, and there are common themes.

I think the first layer of the foundation of customer service is empowerment of the employee. Allow individuals to make the decisions, rewarding the positive, and using poor decisions as a learning experience. If they consistently repeat the bad decision, then take alternate actions.

Empowering the employee gives them the feeling of ownership in the company. Employees that feel like they are assets to the company, and are able to make the difference, often do. By rewarding good decision making and training the standards that are to be met and having a consistent set of standards makes that task much simpler. Changing everyday policies with weekly memos like we've all seen, makes consistent performance tough, if not impossible, as in the end, we are all human.

The realization that most people work to live, not live to work is essential to keep from overloading folks. If someone has been in the trenches all day, don't ask them to take an extra five minutes at the end of their day.

By giving the employees the proper tools through consistent training, and advancing training if the organization is large enough, they will excel. If you're given something fresh and new, or a defined goal with well set markers along the road, it will provide people something they are working towards.

Of course not everyone will do that, but I think one would be surprised how many folks would do well, if well managed.
 
Doug Taylor said:
That's exactly what kept me in school, off the streets and fully interested in aviation.

Every time you take a little interest in a kid, ask him some questions and show him around a little, you might be changing that kid's life, just like it did mine.

I still remember. It was a United 727 from Visalia to San Francisco, the crew brought me to the cockpit, sat me on the jumpseat and gave me a tour and talked to me about what each did. Thirty years later I still think about that.
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That is really cool.

I'm 18, so I'm not quite the type you are talking about. However, what could I do/say just to get the pilots perspective or just sit in the cockpit for a second?
 
Polar742 said:
I think the first layer of the foundation of customer service is empowerment of the employee. Allow individuals to make the decisions, rewarding the positive, and using poor decisions as a learning experience. If they consistently repeat the bad decision, then take alternate actions.
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Thank you for bringing that up. That was something we had at Disney that went miles towards the customer service experience. Kid drops his ice cream cone, you can walk over to the nearest ice cream stand and get one from the vendor, crouch down, hand it to the kid and tell him "It's okay. Have another." No problems, and no lip from management about giving away the store. Try something similar at my airline as a service recovery technique, and it'll land you in the base manager's office for a disciplinary hearing about company property. Imagine how much happier passengers would be if they could just get a WHOLE CAN OF COKE rather than a sip out of a plastic cup. It's a small thing, but it's the perception that makes it big.

The realization that most people work to live, not live to work is essential to keep from overloading folks. If someone has been in the trenches all day, don't ask them to take an extra five minutes at the end of their day.
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You actually can do this, just do it in the right way. "I know this has been a killer day, and I know you REALLY want to go home. However, I really need someone to cover this last flight. I know you've been busting your butt all day, so if you can stay an extra 20 minutes, I'll toss lunch in to help you out." Phrased this way, you're more likely to get someone to stay and actually be okay with it rather than complaining the whole time. Also, do it face to face instead of calling them over a phone. Employees are WAAAY more likely to go above and beyond if they've got a boss they know won't ask them to do something they wouldn't do themselves. I think we've gotten away from that at the airlines, too. Too many managers hide in the office rather than take the heat on the front lines with their employees. Only thing that does is erode any respect the employees might have for them.

By giving the employees the proper tools through consistent training, and advancing training if the organization is large enough, they will excel. If you're given something fresh and new, or a defined goal with well set markers along the road, it will provide people something they are working towards.
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I got so ticked a few months ago, I actually suggested targeted customer service training and volunteered (crazily) to teach it. I was that bent out of shape at the lack of service our passengers were receiving from gate agents. It was deemed to costly.
 
Doug Taylor said:
That's exactly what kept me in school, off the streets and fully interested in aviation.

Every time you take a little interest in a kid, ask him some questions and show him around a little, you might be changing that kid's life, just like it did mine.

I still remember. It was a United 727 from Visalia to San Francisco, the crew brought me to the cockpit, sat me on the jumpseat and gave me a tour and talked to me about what each did. Thirty years later I still think about that.
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I'm the same way. I still remember being 12 years old and having Captain Doug Light letting me come up to the cockpit of the American MD-80 in Jacksonville. I remember him pushing the throttles up and making the plane stutter..."Ffffflaps...". That's when I said I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.

I hope to one day be that Captain for some kid. Back when we were doing the branded stuff, I know there were some pictures floating around family photo albums of kids in my hat.
 
I recommend airline marketing attract a customer that they want to keep as opposed to the lowest common demoninator.

But since we are on a nostalgia kick. . .

For me it was. . .

An assortment of L1011, DC9, 732, 752 cockpit visits as a kid. Prior to that it was a number of A-10, F-15, F-16 visits as a kid.

A sick disgusting flu aviation is.
 
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