Delta PR Disaster: "Fair Dinkum"

I read that the other day. I'd love to see some input on the story from Qantas FAs. :rolleyes:
 
One thing that indicates the usual quality of a company's customer service is when the employees are spring loaded that customers can't swear at them. Could be an indication that it's pretty common that they p* off customers.

The Illinois Secretary of State (DMV to you other staters) offices have printed paper signs everywhere saying that you can't abuse the employees. Same deal.

Although on my last visit the two at the help desk were pleasant, they explained to stupid ol' me that even though I had my new address on my driver's license the license plate division was a separate deal so I didn't get the renewal notice and they still had the old address on my plates. Then I asked why wazzit they had just sent those CAVU plates to the new address. :dunno:
 
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That seems like a joke most of the time. When you dump poor service on a customer for a lengthy period, they are supposed to remain calm and just take it?

I've had a non-stop service issue with Charter Communications for five months. It started with a shortcut taken by the initial installer that was not discovered until last week... by me. That was AFTER more than a dozen service calls by techs who claimed no issues. And, I can't count how many telephone calls with more than a couple dozen hours on the phone. More than once, I was fit to be tied.

But the one I'll never understand was them getting upset when I made this statement when referring to how I felt with the unsatisfactory response to service issues: "I feel like I'm getting p*ssed on here."

Her response: "I'm not going to tolerate that kind of language." and she hung up on me. :dunno:

There are some companies out there who are better at drawing out the language from me in greater volume than my entire four years in the Navy and the twenty years since. On the flip-side, it's amazing how nice I really am when I get what I'm paying for with minimal mishaps. I don't expect it to be much less with an airline.

The TSA is another story. :(
 
mikea said:
One thing that indicates the usual quality of a company's customer service is when the employees are spring loaded that customers can't swear at them. Could be an indication that it's pretty common that they p* off customers.
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BAA, which runs Heathrow airport, has signs all over the security areas that you cannot be mean to the BAA employees or else you will be arrested. BAA is the biggest bunch of idiots this world has ever seen. If you have had to travel through Heathrow in the last year you will know what I mean. 2 hours security lines, only 1 carry one, rude, incompetant, etc. Event eh airlines are starting to sue BAA because of lost business. I will NOT fly through a British airport anymore because of them. I tell you the BAA makes the TSA look like Nobel prize winning physicists.
 
smigaldi said:
BAA, which runs Heathrow airport, has signs all over the security areas that you cannot be mean to the BAA employees or else you will be arrested. BAA is the biggest bunch of idiots this world has ever seen. If you have had to travel through Heathrow in the last year you will know what I mean. 2 hours security lines, only 1 carry one, rude, incompetant, etc. Event eh airlines are starting to sue BAA because of lost business. I will NOT fly through a British airport anymore because of them. I tell you the BAA makes the TSA look like Nobel prize winning physicists.
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You DO know, don't you, that BAA operates a number of airports here in the states? They include Logan, BWI, and Indy, the first two of which I rate as terrible airports.
 
wsuffa said:
You DO know, don't you, that BAA operates a number of airports here in the states? They include Logan, BWI, and Indy, the first two of which I rate as terrible airports.
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Oh, great. I'm flying into BWI Monday night and out Tuesday afternoon. I haven't had problems with that airport in the past. Has it changed?
 
wsuffa said:
You DO know, don't you, that BAA operates a number of airports here in the states? They include Logan, BWI, and Indy, the first two of which I rate as terrible airports.
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Oh Joy- I get to fly into Logan real soon now:( . After a delay..I mean layover in Chicago.
 
I've flown Northwest my last couple of trips. Seems like NWA has taken so much from the attendants (medical benefits, salary, ...) that the attendants don't seem to care anymore. I got to listen to one complain the whole leg about her 40% pay cut and more.

Could be the flight attendants are also looking for any excuse to get pax p.o.'d at the airlines.
 
My wife and I came back to L.A. from a Caribbean cruise on Eastern Airlines in early 1991. The flight out of San Juan PR was delayed because the airplane was two hours late arriving there, and we had to cross a mechanics' picket line to get to the L-1011.

We connected in ATL, after one missed approach in the fog. Surprisingly they had held our connecting flight. A fellow pax from our SJU flight settled into his seat on the LAX-bound A-300 and asked the FA for a pillow. When he was told there were none, he mumbled something about the service. The FA wheeled and shot back, "Look, sir, we waited two hours for you."

Without missing a beat he replied, "No, ma'am. You waited two hours for your airplane."

Those were not happy crews. EAL folded its wings for good two weeks later.
 
Pilawt said:
My wife and I came back to L.A. from a Caribbean cruise on Eastern Airlines in early 1991. The flight out of San Juan PR was delayed because the airplane was two hours late arriving there, and we had to cross a mechanics' picket line to get to the L-1011.

We connected in ATL, after one missed approach in the fog. Surprisingly they had held our connecting flight. A fellow pax from our SJU flight settled into his seat on the LAX-bound A-300 and asked the FA for a pillow. When he was told there were none, he mumbled something about the service. The FA wheeled and shot back, "Look, sir, we waited two hours for you."

Without missing a beat he replied, "No, ma'am. You waited two hours for your airplane."

Those were not happy crews. EAL folded its wings for good two weeks later.
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That's about what happened in my last flight on United. Our United jet from Oakland to LAX was the routine 2 hours late, so our United flight to ORD was gone when got there. We stand in line for an hour to beg to be booked on the next United jet to ORD and were told repeatedly in no uncertain terms that we should be extremely thankful that they accommodated our sorry butts into the last seats on that crowded later United flight because that previous United flight was to blame.
 
Ghery said:
Oh, great. I'm flying into BWI Monday night and out Tuesday afternoon. I haven't had problems with that airport in the past. Has it changed?
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Where shall I begin????

A close friend took 1-1/4 hours to clear security for the Southwest terminals - on a Saturday morning. My normal delay for security at Southwest is 20-30 minutes.

The AA/DL/NW pier has an elite line, but it's not always open. If it's not open, you can expect a 20+ minute delay during busy hours. I don't think the UA pier has an elite line, but I'm not sure.

It takes no less than 35 minutes from walking off the plane to get a rental car. The rental car bus makes only two stops (as compared to the 4 stops that the parking and AMtrak buses make), so you have to walk a bit.

The bus to the daily garage sometimes involves a 10+ minute wait, plus travel time.

If you park in the hourly garage to pick someone up, and you park on the same level as baggage claim, you cannot cross the road. You must go up 4 flights of steps or take an elevator, and then go back down.

Customer "service" is surley. This is the place where (let's put it carefully) I've seen a serious racial attitude delivered by service workers to customers. And the customers are non-minority.

Food has been hard to come by (except for the Southwest terminal), though they just opened a new Wendy's and Potbelly in the AA/DL/NW pier.... I waited 5 minutes in line at Wendy's one day, then went over to Potbelly and got served 5 minutes before the guy behind me in the Wendy's line was served... and there were only 3 people in line ahead of me.

Shall I continue?

I hate BWI.

Pilawt said:
My wife and I came back to L.A. from a Caribbean cruise on Eastern Airlines in early 1991. The flight out of San Juan PR was delayed because the airplane was two hours late arriving there, and we had to cross a mechanics' picket line to get to the L-1011.

We connected in ATL, after one missed approach in the fog. Surprisingly they had held our connecting flight. A fellow pax from our SJU flight settled into his seat on the LAX-bound A-300 and asked the FA for a pillow. When he was told there were none, he mumbled something about the service. The FA wheeled and shot back, "Look, sir, we waited two hours for you."

Without missing a beat he replied, "No, ma'am. You waited two hours for your airplane."

Those were not happy crews. EAL folded its wings for good two weeks later.
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THis would be like the trans-Atlantic TWA flight I took in the mid-90's. A piece of the overhead bin (part of the plane) fell off and clonked some guy in the head. When the guy gave it to the FA, she looked at him and said "What do you want? Cheap fares or service?". He was on pretty close to a full coach ticket. She had seniority, I wouldn't be surprised if she were still with AA after the purchase.

Frankly, my recent experiences on DL have been very good service-wise, especially the in-flight crews. Much better than AA's in-flight service. Phone service, however, goes to AA by a long shot. I have equivalent level of status in each of the DL/AA FF programs.

I do note that the FOx news article was inaccurate: the event actually occured on Skywest (a commuter carrier) that was operating a Delta code-share/commuter connection... http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,22222071-5001021,00.html That it happened on Skywest is no surprise at all. And that Fox got the actual operating airline wrong is no surprise, either.
 
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mikea said:
That's about what happened in my last flight on United. Our United jet from Oakland to LAX was the routine 2 hours late, so our United flight to ORD was gone when got there. We stand in line for an hour to beg to be booked on the next United jet to ORD and were told repeatedly in no uncertain terms that we should be extremely thankful that they accommodated our sorry butts into the last seats on that crowded later United flight because that previous United flight was to blame.
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That's why I'd be on my phone to Amex travel while standing in line. That and United has never treated me that way. Maybe because I'm 1P each year? Or I've been lucky? Probably lucky.

It really doesn't matter. Airline travel is a pain in the you know where anyway you slice it. It is a necessary evil in my line of work. I'm prohibited from flying myself on company business, and most places I go a 182 won't get you to anyway. If I have to fly, I like United simply because Economy Plus is more comfortable than coach on virtually any other airline. That extra 4 to 5 inches of legroom makes a huge difference. And occasionally I get lucky and they move me to business class. But when I retire I will be happy to cut back on my airline travel significantly. Won't miss the barkers at the airports at all, that's for sure.
 
Is it illegal to swear at an FA? If not, I wish someone would pass a law that prohibits the airlines from saying "That's illegal" when they're just trying to intimidate people.
 
ATA will have to get its collective room-temperature (not Fahrenheit) IQ together and come up with a seat-back-pocket card that listing monosyllabic words that passengers are permitted to use in the presence of airline employees. These will only be words that can be understood by low-grade morons.

Passengers will be warned that if they use any other words, they take the risk that crews will assume they are being sworn at. Maybe they assume that because they know there is good cause for being sworn at.
 
smigaldi said:
BAA, which runs Heathrow airport, has signs all over the security areas that you cannot be mean to the BAA employees or else you will be arrested. BAA is the biggest bunch of idiots this world has ever seen. If you have had to travel through Heathrow in the last year you will know what I mean. 2 hours security lines, only 1 carry one, rude, incompetant, etc. Event eh airlines are starting to sue BAA because of lost business. I will NOT fly through a British airport anymore because of them. I tell you the BAA makes the TSA look like Nobel prize winning physicists.
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Holidaymakers flying out of Heathrow Airport suffer more stress than fighter pilots in action or police in riots.

Heartbeat rates soar to levels often higher than athletes' during a race. And blood pressure levels also hit danger levels, a medical study warns.

The cause... queues, unfriendly staff, lack of information, poor air and lack of basic facilities like toilets, says top neuropsychologist David Lewis.
...
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2007/08/12/heathrow-is-bad-for-your-health-98487-19613204/
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Remind me that I don't want to vacation in London. I had always wanted to go back and just wander on my own time. I thought I could count on Paris to be nasty, but I guess London is, too.
 
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