Improving Customer Service. Your Thoughts?
- Thread starter derg
- Start date
400A
New Member
This is one of those rare cases where I don't think the devil is in the details. Customer service would improve if the people doing their jobs were hired because they are good at their jobs, not because of who they know, what school they went to, etc.
Being good at your job means you take pride in being good, you constantly strive to improve, always correcting your mistakes and looking for ways to help others avoid them. Take a hard look around at the people you work with and see, honestly, how many of them do this on any sort of a consistant basis.
/sorry, I'm an in one of those piss and vinegar moods.
Being good at your job means you take pride in being good, you constantly strive to improve, always correcting your mistakes and looking for ways to help others avoid them. Take a hard look around at the people you work with and see, honestly, how many of them do this on any sort of a consistant basis.
/sorry, I'm an in one of those piss and vinegar moods.
SpiceWeasel
Tre Kronor
Well one thing I do, when I'm looking at the weather on computer at the gate...
I don't laugh off or ignore passengers who ask me questions thinking I'm the gate agent. When people come up, I ask "is there something I might be able to help you with?" and politely indicate that I am not the gate agent but there are a few things I could do.
I don't laugh off or ignore passengers who ask me questions thinking I'm the gate agent. When people come up, I ask "is there something I might be able to help you with?" and politely indicate that I am not the gate agent but there are a few things I could do.
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
I'm the same way.
E_Dawg
Moderator
I've heard people gripe about us pilots not being a walking information desk. True but you gotta admit we (in general) know airports a heck of a lot better than most. If I have time I walk people to their gate, or if I'm in a hurry I'll at least point them in the right direction or find them someone who can. This is especially true for me with foreigners; since doing a bit of traveling myself, it's really reiterated the fact that not speaking English does NOT make someone stupid... hell they could be the einstein of their country. It gives me the opportunity to help them and hopefully leave them with a good (better) impression of the US.
Otherwise as pilots there's not much I can think of other than appearance, and timely and appropriate announcements. ie. early morning flights don't droan on about how the town off the left used to be an old miner's settlement.... nobody cares about that even if they're awake!
I guess one more thing is smooth flying. Large and sudden power changes can scare people, especially in naturally loud planes. And handflying it, gotta be smooooooth. Crazy how many people will fly straight through that cloud up ahead, flying like a bat outta hell, without giving so much as a thought to adding an ounce of power or turning 2 degrees to actually AVOID it (and flying redline only gets you there faster if you're pointing TOWARDS your destination......)
The face of the airlines, though as I see it, are gate agents and flight attendants. And I'm sorry to say that SOME gate agents (especially) can be downright nasty to some people. It can (at times) be embarrassing on a human level... more than just professional.
Otherwise as pilots there's not much I can think of other than appearance, and timely and appropriate announcements. ie. early morning flights don't droan on about how the town off the left used to be an old miner's settlement.... nobody cares about that even if they're awake!
I guess one more thing is smooth flying. Large and sudden power changes can scare people, especially in naturally loud planes. And handflying it, gotta be smooooooth. Crazy how many people will fly straight through that cloud up ahead, flying like a bat outta hell, without giving so much as a thought to adding an ounce of power or turning 2 degrees to actually AVOID it (and flying redline only gets you there faster if you're pointing TOWARDS your destination......)
The face of the airlines, though as I see it, are gate agents and flight attendants. And I'm sorry to say that SOME gate agents (especially) can be downright nasty to some people. It can (at times) be embarrassing on a human level... more than just professional.
mrivc211
Well-Known Member
I've heard people gripe about us pilots not being a walking information desk. True but you gotta admit we (in general) know airports a heck of a lot better than most. If I have time I walk people to their gate, or if I'm in a hurry I'll at least point them in the right direction or find them someone who can. This is especially true for me with foreigners; since doing a bit of traveling myself, it's really reiterated the fact that not speaking English does NOT make someone stupid... hell they could be the einstein of their country. It gives me the opportunity to help them and hopefully leave them with a good (better) impression of the US.
Otherwise as pilots there's not much I can think of other than appearance, and timely and appropriate announcements. ie. early morning flights don't droan on about how the town off the left used to be an old miner's settlement.... nobody cares about that even if they're awake!
I guess one more thing is smooth flying. Large and sudden power changes can scare people, especially in naturally loud planes. And handflying it, gotta be smooooooth. Crazy how many people will fly straight through that cloud up ahead, flying like a bat outta hell, without giving so much as a thought to adding an ounce of power or turning 2 degrees to actually AVOID it (and flying redline only gets you there faster if you're pointing TOWARDS your destination......)
The face of the airlines, though as I see it, are gate agents and flight attendants. And I'm sorry to say that SOME gate agents (especially) can be downright nasty to some people. It can (at times) be embarrassing on a human level... more than just professional.
Stop it your making me tear up. Oh how they grow up to be such handsome young lads. Errr I mean, I gotta stop thinking out loud.
Anyways, I try and greet folks on the way in, as well as out. Make announcements and keep them informed. Always trying to have a professional appearance. Making sure I know my surroundings and knowing when its not appropriate to have a personal phone conversation. Speaking of which, never be on your cell phone while pax are deplaning. It shows that you don't care.
When I see kids, I tend to invite them upfront and offer their parents a rare photo op. Its that photo that might make a difference in that childs life.
I have to admit though, these are things that I have learned as I have gained experience in this industry as well as gotten older. I was vastly different when I was a 23 year old new hire. You could say I was a cocky young punk at times.
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.
E_Dawg
Moderator
Hmm yeah, don't look now but I think you lost your inner monologue again
Nick
Well-Known Member
We had a baggage delay today for a bit and had a kid and his dad in the cockpit the entire time. Probably spent about thirty minutes up there with us, asking questions all the while. I could see myself in that kid! I remember PHL-ATL in 1992 on Delta in a 767-200 with a baggage delay and standing there talking to the pilots.
FlyChicaga
Vintage Restoration
I'd love to participate in this thread, but ill refrain after the whipping I got the last time I tried to do something like this.
Sorry.
Sorry.
Screaming_Emu
Well-Known Member
Just to elaborate on some of what has already been said.
People who work in the public eye need to at least pretend they want to be there. If they don't they need to go do something else...one way or another.
I'm based in Atlanta and nothing bothers me more than seeing gate agents, flight attendants, airport workers, and to a much lesser extent, pilots who have no desire to be there.
I think Delta needs to do something along the lines of having people act as passengers and see how they are treated by some of the gate agents. I've seen people ignored, talked down to, and almost yelled at for showing up at the gate late (due to a late arriving flight). There are some fantastic gate agents there, but it seems a vast majority just want to do whatever they can to make passengers somebody elses problem as quick as possible rather than actually help. And if I hear "we axe you to remain in the gate area" one more time.... We don't need perfect grammar but at least make it sound like you made it into high school.
As for what we can actually control as pilots I agree with making timely PAs and helping the passengers whenever possible. I have no problem helping someone who is legitimately lost in the airport. But what I do have a problem with is people who are too lazy to at least attempt to figure it out on their own. If everyone went up to the first employee they saw to figure out where their gate is nobody would get anything done. I was helping a lady from India who missed her connection and was in tears figure out how to rebook her flight to JFK when someone stepped inbetween the two of us to ask where D concourse was (when we were standing near the escalator with a huge sign saying D1-D38).
People who work in the public eye need to at least pretend they want to be there. If they don't they need to go do something else...one way or another.
I'm based in Atlanta and nothing bothers me more than seeing gate agents, flight attendants, airport workers, and to a much lesser extent, pilots who have no desire to be there.
I think Delta needs to do something along the lines of having people act as passengers and see how they are treated by some of the gate agents. I've seen people ignored, talked down to, and almost yelled at for showing up at the gate late (due to a late arriving flight). There are some fantastic gate agents there, but it seems a vast majority just want to do whatever they can to make passengers somebody elses problem as quick as possible rather than actually help. And if I hear "we axe you to remain in the gate area" one more time.... We don't need perfect grammar but at least make it sound like you made it into high school.
As for what we can actually control as pilots I agree with making timely PAs and helping the passengers whenever possible. I have no problem helping someone who is legitimately lost in the airport. But what I do have a problem with is people who are too lazy to at least attempt to figure it out on their own. If everyone went up to the first employee they saw to figure out where their gate is nobody would get anything done. I was helping a lady from India who missed her connection and was in tears figure out how to rebook her flight to JFK when someone stepped inbetween the two of us to ask where D concourse was (when we were standing near the escalator with a huge sign saying D1-D38).
SpiceWeasel
Tre Kronor
No better thing than pointing it out, adding nothing to this thread. Thanks!
Screaming_Emu said:
That's absolutely correct. Seeing people who just don't want to be at work makes my day so much better. And I like the idea of "secret travellers", we had something similar when I worked my grocery store job. You can get some pretty good feedback, whether its for the good or the bad personnel, on how the front lines are performing. The grammar/speech thing is another pet peeve.... but you see that all over Atlanta.... how the F hard is it to pronounce "ask" correctly? Then again, I've got a friend who pronounces every "th" as "f". Monf..... arg!
Screaming_Emu said:
I think employee professionalism is something that, while it really should be a part of the initial hiring process, could be brushed upon during recurrent. I had a trip in January, a two-day, with possibly the most immature flight attendants EVER.... and they weren't kids. The woman was probably around her 50s, and the male was around his 40s. Unfortunately, we were representing Delta at that point.
The Captain and I wanted to grab lunch - anywhere, we're dudes, we don't give a crap - and when we got off the FAs decided to invite themselves to our event, saying that we "all" need to go to some place in the E concourse. When we got there they realized the restaurant they wanted wasn't there, so like two kids, they huffed-and-puffed their way over to the E information desk. When they finally found a restaurant, they had decided upon a place where everyone had a beer on the table. It's very uncomfortable sitting at that sort of place in uniform. Then, the male FA knocked over a customers drink at an adjacent table attempting to move two tables together. He spent the lunch poking me in the ribs and asking very inappropriate questions of me.
Well, later on, there was a Delta MD88 with a MX delay that we were waiting on - our AWESOME male and female FAs started screwing around - first being in the way of the gate agents while loudly comparing their schedules for the next month. Then, the male told us that he thought this MX delay was "ridiculous" very loudly. To top this crap off, the female FA decided to "rest" in a hardback wheelchair, and then they decided it would be a great idea to wheel around the T terminal in the wheelchair and just screw around.... Donuts?!??! Hitting on a cop???? Going to Bath and Body Works and putting sponges on her head?!?! Goddamn!
WTF.Anyways, professionalism should be something they go over, especially for OUR FAs, since they already have a class on manual revising. lol
Absolutely, never blow off a passenger. I always told them I would help them if I knew how. That seemed to keep them happy until the arrival of someone who knew what he was doing. :laff:
As for communicating with pax about delays, the lack of communication seemed to anger them more than anything else...and rightly so. Nothing works like showing a bit of thoughtfulness to paying customers.
Screaming_Emu
Well-Known Member
No better thing than pointing it out, adding nothing to this thread. Thanks!
That's absolutely correct. Seeing people who just don't want to be at work makes my day so much better. And I like the idea of "secret travellers", we had something similar when I worked my grocery store job. You can get some pretty good feedback, whether its for the good or the bad personnel, on how the front lines are performing. The grammar/speech thing is another pet peeve.... but you see that all over Atlanta.... how the F hard is it to pronounce "ask" correctly? Then again, I've got a friend who pronounces every "th" as "f". Monf..... arg!
I think employee professionalism is something that, while it really should be a part of the initial hiring process, could be brushed upon during recurrent. I had a trip in January, a two-day, with possibly the most immature flight attendants EVER.... and they weren't kids. The woman was probably around her 50s, and the male was around his 40s. Unfortunately, we were representing Delta at that point.
The Captain and I wanted to grab lunch - anywhere, we're dudes, we don't give a crap - and when we got off the FAs decided to invite themselves to our event, saying that we "all" need to go to some place in the E concourse. When we got there they realized the restaurant they wanted wasn't there, so like two kids, they huffed-and-puffed their way over to the E information desk. When they finally found a restaurant, they had decided upon a place where everyone had a beer on the table. It's very uncomfortable sitting at that sort of place in uniform. Then, the male FA knocked over a customers drink at an adjacent table attempting to move two tables together. He spent the lunch poking me in the ribs and asking very inappropriate questions of me.
Well, later on, there was a Delta MD88 with a MX delay that we were waiting on - our AWESOME male and female FAs started screwing around - first being in the way of the gate agents while loudly comparing their schedules for the next month. Then, the male told us that he thought this MX delay was "ridiculous" very loudly. To top this crap off, the female FA decided to "rest" in a hardback wheelchair, and then they decided it would be a great idea to wheel around the T terminal in the wheelchair and just screw around.... Donuts?!??! Hitting on a cop???? Going to Bath and Body Works and putting sponges on her head?!?! Goddamn!
WTF.Anyways, professionalism should be something they go over, especially for OUR FAs, since they already have a class on manual revising. lol
That sounds all too familiar.
I flew with a pretty immature captain a couple trips ago. And again he was in his late 40s early 50s. He was immature and had a huge axe to grind with the company. Yes things could be run much more smoothly, but you can make a huge difference if you try to bridge those gaps when they appear. First off he doesn't give crew scheduling his cell phone number so in this absolute disaster of a trip they keep contacting me to pass on information to him. Then there were two scenarios that he could have handled much better...and I regret for not resolving sooner.
We landed from DAB after being held for release there so we were already late. ACARS told us we were parking at D34. We pull onto the ramp and are told our gate is full so we stop somewhere and hold. I dial up the company freq to ask when the plane in our gate is ready to push. Before I get a chance he tells me "stop, let them figure it out...". So I stop and wait. Every couple mins I tell him that I'd like to know so we can keep the passengers updated ane he said "Nope...we're late and they don't have a gate open...I'm just sitting here counting Coronas". So finally I get tired of this BS (I should have done something much sooner) but it turns out they wanted us between D34 and D36 in a spot that isn't actually a gate. Yes they should have told us this, but if I would have asked right away we wouldn't have had to wait 42 mins to get a gate thus causing lots of passengers to miss their connections.
We were supposed to have a bit of a sit in ATL and he was planning on going to print off the lines for next month so he could figure out what he wanted to bid. Our sit was now erased and we were swapping planes. He still went to the lounge, printed them out, and then slowly got to the gate.
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.
kellwolf
Piece of Trash
I pretty much agree with everything said in this thread. Oddly enough, whenever we get into a customer service discussion, I tend to agree with Matt, too. When did you get a beating over talking about customer service and by whom?
The grammar thing is a huge pet peeve of mine, and it's rampant in MEM as well. IMO, it's a product of the geographical location, but that's no excuse to sound like a high school drop out that flunked English.
I see too many gate agents and FAs that seem to be bothered to do the job for which they're paid. It takes about 30 seconds (less if the computers are working correctly) to type "22880" in the computer to find out which gate 2880 is departing from. I guarantee you the passenger will be much happier and more likely to remember someone getting the info for them in a positive light than someone that says "The monitors are right over there" and goes back to talking to their homegirl. Unfamiliar airports are scary and intimidating places, and that's doubly so for people that don't travel often.
The other culprit of bad customer service is the "I've heard this 1000 times" question. Sure, YOU'VE heard it 1000 times, but odds are very good that the passenger asking the question hasn't asked it 1 time before. If they did, they're already getting pretty hacked off because the last person blew them off, too. Even if it's the 1001st time you've heard the question, it should be treated like the FIRST time you've heard it. It's a simple and basic rule that's beaten into your head at other companies that are big on customer service (Disney and Southwest both put this in their initial training programs), but it seems to totally fall off the radar of companies that are just doing enough to get by.
Fact of the matter is passengers are the reason we have jobs in this tight economy. They could just as easily say "I'm flying XXXX airlines next time," or they could decide driving is better. Everyone employed by an airline should keep that in mind and do what they can to keep those people coming back. Labor problems are between the employees and the company (for the most part). Passengers should only be brought into the equation as a last ditch effort. You can do informational picketting all day long since it really doesn't do much to hinder the travel experience for the passenger (which is why it's called "informational.") The "nuclear option" of a strike or some sort of passenger disruption should be a last resort. It MAY bring about the desired outcome, or it may put everyone on the street.
The grammar thing is a huge pet peeve of mine, and it's rampant in MEM as well. IMO, it's a product of the geographical location, but that's no excuse to sound like a high school drop out that flunked English.
I see too many gate agents and FAs that seem to be bothered to do the job for which they're paid. It takes about 30 seconds (less if the computers are working correctly) to type "22880" in the computer to find out which gate 2880 is departing from. I guarantee you the passenger will be much happier and more likely to remember someone getting the info for them in a positive light than someone that says "The monitors are right over there" and goes back to talking to their homegirl. Unfamiliar airports are scary and intimidating places, and that's doubly so for people that don't travel often.
The other culprit of bad customer service is the "I've heard this 1000 times" question. Sure, YOU'VE heard it 1000 times, but odds are very good that the passenger asking the question hasn't asked it 1 time before. If they did, they're already getting pretty hacked off because the last person blew them off, too. Even if it's the 1001st time you've heard the question, it should be treated like the FIRST time you've heard it. It's a simple and basic rule that's beaten into your head at other companies that are big on customer service (Disney and Southwest both put this in their initial training programs), but it seems to totally fall off the radar of companies that are just doing enough to get by.
Fact of the matter is passengers are the reason we have jobs in this tight economy. They could just as easily say "I'm flying XXXX airlines next time," or they could decide driving is better. Everyone employed by an airline should keep that in mind and do what they can to keep those people coming back. Labor problems are between the employees and the company (for the most part). Passengers should only be brought into the equation as a last ditch effort. You can do informational picketting all day long since it really doesn't do much to hinder the travel experience for the passenger (which is why it's called "informational.") The "nuclear option" of a strike or some sort of passenger disruption should be a last resort. It MAY bring about the desired outcome, or it may put everyone on the street.
ctab5060X
Well-Known Member
In Memphis, that is kind of hard when they more than likely did drop out of high school and flunked English in the process.
I am from this this part of the world, and I have problems understanding some of our gate agents.
kellwolf
Piece of Trash
I grew up in Whitehaven, so I'm fluent. I can even translate for ya. The sad thing is, they likely DIDN'T drop out and PASSED English.
