Airline Customer Service Lowest in Years!

[Laz]

A TA I use frequently told me that most travel agents she talks to agree that airline custome service and care it at its lowest level in years! Massive increases in delays, cancelled flights, and lost luggage along with stressed out employees are making for explosive situations. She says that complaints are at an all time high and responses to those complaints by the airlines are nonexistent. When they do respond, its with a form letter and a voucher (Just give them candy and they will go away). I recently posted about a connecting flight that is almost too close to catch..ie if the first plane is late by 10 minutes, I will miss my connection! They plane is traditionally 30 minutes late in arriving. When I called Delta, they told me I may have to run!! When I asked how my luggage would make it, They said just use carry ons!

My experiences seem to indicate that the TAs statements are true....what do others think?

 

[Beverly Lynn]

well you might not like what I have to say. I have been on both ends of the wire here and I can say that passengers have also gotten pretty darn nasty too. there is so much "air/travel rage" now that I can see why some customer svc reps at the airports get the way they do. I am not saying this gives them the right but last dec there were a lot of cancelled flights due to weather. not my doing or the carrier but mother nature well this one man didn't like it when I told him the entire eastern corridor was shut down including trains and buses and he could not get to where he wanted to go and he then proceeded to throw all of his luggage at me. he was subsequently escorted out of the airport in handcuffs and spent the night in jail. he was fined heavily and asked never to fly the carrier again.

as a passenger on usair last feb they lost my bag coming home and I must say they were pretty decent at paying the claim in a timely fashion.

when flights are delayed and cancelled it is not the agent on duty's fault. it could be many different factors involved. weather, mechanical, air traffic, connecting flights, late arriving passengers and the ramp trying to get those bags on the aircraft to go with the psgrs, something downline delayed the flight(meaning something at the city the aircraft is coming from). we had so many late departures out of pittsburgh this past winter with late arriving psgrs because they do not realize that it is a mile from the tkt cntr to the gate. and it takes a min of 15 mint to get from that area to your flight. this is why they always advise you to get to the airport a min or one hr prior to departure time. and at certain times of the year in certain cities like florida they raise that time limit to 2 hrs prior to departure time.

As for TA's they don't have the best customer svc either. I cannot tell you how many times we were unable to contact the psgr to tell them of a delayed or cancelled flight because the TA neglected to put the psgrs phone cntc(contact) in the reservation. all they put is the ta nrb and if it is after hours then there was no way to contact the psgr. and many times they had been advised of the schedule change and they neglected once again to notify the psgr of the new flt info. yet the Ta had been notified. I'm not saying this applies for all TA's but ther is a good portion of them that this happens with. its even worse now since the commission cut. complaints on ta's from the airlines is up as well.

the best advice I can give to someone who has had to deal with a not so nice airline agent anywhere is to go above that person to the next level and make sure that you get that agents name and sign (and city if its on the phone) and make your complaint. thisis the only way it gets taken care of. and yes they will give you a voucher to help try and appease you if necessary. 85% of the time this is what the passenger wants.(I am just going by info obtained at consumer relations) and they would rather give a dollar amount voucher as opposed to a free tkt voucher because statistics show that 80% of the dollar amount vouchers never get used while 95% of free tkt ones do.

as for the stressed out airline employees...amen to that. yes they are. its getting harder and harder to travel for free now and the psgrs are getting nastier and nastier and with the delays and cancellations that they have to deal with on top of irate passengers its gettig to be toomuch. then everytime you turn around you get a new memo with do this now and don't do that anymore and watch your P's and Q's and then tkt prices rise and so do tempers.....then you get contract negotiations and strike threats and work stoppages and the depts. left to handle the passengers are the ones taking the heat for the ones behind the scenes....(I hope that made sense) and then you get employee pitted against employee/unions/ its a mess with merger and buyouts...its not a fun job anymore....

 

[Laz]

I just checked the flights, and the flight I have scheduled will be delayed as usual. Delta MUST know that this is happeining. They must know that people are missing flights! Obsivously they don't care. They don't arrange schedules to match traffic at busy airports and instead spend their times pointing fingers instead of really satisfying the consumer! Edward Demming, a great management consultant, said that 85% of all problems in a business is caused by management ineptitude and carelessness.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

LAZ I must wholeheartedly agree on that one! after the piedmont usair merger and the change of "uncle ed" to Seth Schoefield the airline went downhill big time. and I can't say for sure that wolfe has done much for them either.

Atlanta is now the biggest hub in the us. its the busiest airport it actually surpassed O'hare and LAX and all of the new york airports. its also got the best scanning system for bags as well.

Can't really say anything on the delayed flights without knowing the factor behind it. but when an agent goes to book a flight there is a number after the flight line that tells of the percentage of on time performance. maybe next time you should ask the agent what the on time performance of that flight is. and ask why its got such a bad on time performance.

 

[CarolA]

Did your TA book you on these flights? If so I wonder why? I normally have no problems making my connection in Atlanta with the routings Delta suggests. Also, as to the agents suggestion for the luggage I would ignore it. I find that even when I have to hoof it, my luggage is more likely to make it. Having been driven across the airport by Delta one night I figured out why! Luggage actually could have less travel then you do! That area is actually more concentracted and of course they are driving little trucks instead of waiting on trains and walking. I have been known to miss my connection in Dallas a lot (an airport that I HATE!) and my luggage will make it!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

IMHO, if you do your homework, check the schedules, the on time ratings, etc. this should not be an issue.
If you had a TA that made these arrangements, I think you should get a new one. If you are making the arrangements and the agent booking this does not say anything, I would not take issue with the agent. The silly agent may assume you can read.
I have yet to encounter a nasty agent, one with a non caring attitude or one that was not helpful. What I have seen is customers who are pushy, arrogant, rude, thoughtless and downright nasty.
Perhaps if we all "walked a mile" in their shoes and gave one thought to the many people ,who are less than nice,that the agents talk to through the day we might improve our attitude and ask for help, rather than to assume it will be forthcoming because you are you.
Never assume that anyone is going to give you more than you ask for. The agent is there to book the flights that you request, not plan your agenda.

I really don't think that the airlines customer service is at an all time low, I think that the customers' manners and attitude is at an all time low. The "me-me" attitude and the "entitlement" mentality is at an all time high and it is, frankly, annoying, to say the least.

Another thing you can do is go to the website, see the available flights, get a map of the connecting airport (most are available on the net), see how large the area for the specific airline is. Allow for an hour delay ( I love big comfort zones) then plan from there. Worst case, you sit for 30 mins. or shop.

I now do most of my bookings via the net, hate phones. I also look for non stop flights, that way I don't have a worry.

 

[Laz]

I had booked a package with Delta Vacations quite a while back due to a great price. The original flights out of Fort Wayne were almost perfect--->except that they were on Comair Now I am stuck on an ASA flight to Atlanta that is ALWAYS LATE. Because of greed, stubborness, and pride, I, the consumer will suffer. DW work schedule will not let her catch another flight.

My plan is this....I will watch the flight times to see how late it is. Then when I check in EARLY, I will show them that I will miss my connection and demand another flight on another airline to get to me to my destination. I will have a list of available flights that will get me to my destination at about the same time as originally scheduled. What do you all think about that??

 

[Disnydad]

I agree about the poor service. Once while waiting for a US Air flight out of Albany, NY (before SW came to town last year) I watched a lady go up to the check-in desk to ask a question. The woman behind the counter held up one finger and said "Hold on a minute". A couple of minutes went by and the agent started to walk away. The questioner said "Hey, what about my question?" The agent while walking away pointed at her watch and said "I'm going off duty now."

If one does not like the pay and/or job, try something else.

 

[Beverly Lynn]

LAZ there are always other carriers to fly if this does not fit your schedule. you chose DL to begin with and unfortunately the one commuter they used went off on strike. not deltas fault. they have reacommodated you not to your taste but they did do it. wqhy not get a refund on the air portion if you are unhappy and rebook with another carrier?


and GAIL I have to say thank you. I have been on both sides of the counter here and I see both sides of it. for the most part I do feel a lot of the agents stay mediocre considering what they put up with out there. the one nasty ,unhappy psgr puts up with one agent while that one agent puts up with hundreds of nasty people. its not a fun job anymore. too much air/travel rage now.

 

[Laz]

It IS delta's fault and responsibility!! They have their name on the tickets, Their vacation package, and I paid good money to DELTA, not Comair, not ASA, or anyone else. They are in business to satisfy the customer. Because it was a package, they WILL NOT refund the air portion (I tried). Thats the problem with the entire industry, trying to push the blame on someone else rather than satisfy the customer. First rule of Business: The entire Company works to satisfy the customer. This satisfaction will lead to maximum profits (Marketing Concept)

 

[Beverly Lynn]

But the bottom line is they did reacommodate you on another flight. this is as far as their responsibility goes. http://www.onetravel.com/advisor/AR...K=3&Lang=English&Token=NULL&Style=1&Modules=Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y|Y

and when you book a pkg deal then this is also part of what you have to take for getting this "deal" sorry. your Travel Agent should have explained this to you when booking your deal thru the carrier. if something like this happened then this is what you can and should expect. You need a new TA they should not try to push all the blame onto the carrier. yes part of it is their fault but they are reacommodating you on another flight. by FAA/DOT regulations they are doing what they are supposed to do. it is not DL's fault on what comair pilots have done. if DL could have they would have stopped the strike from happening in the first place. but Comair is not owned by Delta they have no control over that. it s just a commuter that they contract out to. they do however now own ASA> (at least they do in VLD) And if your TA is the one who did the booking then they need to take the responsibility they are the ones who booked you on it. And at that time your TA should go to bat for you with DL by even calling the DL sales rep they use to get you a better flight or some other acommodations if you are not happy or satisfied with what you got.

 

[Laz]

They hide behind FAA rules? is that it? So because I was the sucker that bought the package, I'm stuck and the airline goes on its merry way, holding the government in front of them as a shield when its convienent and pushing that same gov't agency away when it isn't convienent?

Once again, you must understand, I don't blame the ticket or gate agent, the pilot or cabin attendant. It is management of the airlines. They need to get down out of their ivory towers and work a ticket counter for a month, book a flight as John Doe and ride cattle class, Or try to keep an L1011 full of passengers happy on a delayed flight. Its called management by walking around.

I don't mean to make anybodys ears burn. I will tell you that I have never missed a connection before. I guess the possiblity of my luck running out infuriates me. I am proud to say that I have never had a bad experience with any gate agent, ticket agent or flight attendant. A smile and a kind word go a long way. In other words, I have never been an irate passenger, and I never will. I get irate before hand like now

 

[travelcoupons]

It's pretty lame to blame your customers actions for shoddy customer relations.

How many teachers/coaches have parents down their throat? Most have the professionalism to deal with it in a positive manner and in most cases, the dispute is resolved.

I have personally seen car rental agents treated like dirt by customers who couldn't understand that if they returned their car 1 hour over a week, that they would get charged an extra $18.00, and yet, they maintain their professionalism...or they lose their job.


There are hundreds of other examples.

Air travel is a customer SERVICE business. The problem starts at the top. If management doesn't see to it their employees are serving their customers in a professional manner then they need new management.

One example of this, on a recent northwest flight, passengers were boarding and the flight attendants were quite busy. One gentleman sitting behind me asked one of the flight attendants if breakfast was being served. This was a simple YES or NO question. The flight attendants answer?

"Were not worried about breakfast right now."