Airlines have done a tremendous job putting together programs and features to enhance the “enjoyment” of travelers.  From airport lounges to rewards, all the way to WI-FI in flight, it’s obvious the head offices and strategic minds of these carriers are turning customer centric as a means to drive revenue and build customer loyalty in an attempt to capture precious market share.

The problem? All of the efforts can be instantly taken away and negated in the flash of an eye, based on one terrible experience and the inability to focus on the voice of the customer - in near real time.  Further complicating the issue, social media has entered the equation and with many companies struggling to either understand how to manage social media or even worse turning a blind eye to the new electronic movement.

Case In Point:

Yesterday I posted to my 5500+ followers a few real time quips as to the terrible experience I was having prior to departure on United Flight #7606 YYZ to IAD.  The net effect of my real time transmission resulted in hundreds of people responding to me in real time letting me know their expressions or “feelings” on the airline.  Regretfully, if a social media strategy had been in play at United, they could have immediately chimed in as fast as my followers had stamping out my sparks of defection before they ignited into burning brush fire which to this minute has ignited (accidentally) virally through the social media wires.

The synopsis of the events are listed below:

Boarding Flight:

- Flight attendant hanging out in cockpit laughing with pilots, no warm greeting upon boarding

- Placing Articles in Overhead Bins, Snide remark from flight attendant: “Suitcase is fine up there, laptop bag under your seat, Got it?”

Me: “Oh, is it a full flight tonight?”

Rude Attendant “No, It’s how United does it”

First Twitter to followers Yields Many Responses:

Some Of The Best Responses Received In Minutes:

Prior to take off:

Said Attendant approaches my travel companion and I and states: “I need you two to move forward to the front rows”

Me: “No thanks we are ok here”

Said Attendant “Look, just move ok.  I’m not going to ask you again”

In Flight:

Said Flight attendant deliberately skips over my travel companion and I while serving refreshments.

Upon Arrival Of Flight:

Flight attendant back in cockpit with pilots laughing, with no thank you for flying with us.

United Airlines Response?

None, due to the fact they inadvertently are not monitoring their customer satisfaction beyond traditional means of surveying and statistical analysis AND by embracing Social Media .

Conclusion:

Certainly, one bad flight doesn’t indicate the overall tone of a brands customer satisfaction level.  After researching the brand briefly it is important to note they actually ARE a forward thinking airline when it comes to providing customer service and a painless experience while flying.

They are the first airline to offer door to door baggage via a recent partnership with Fedex, are among the very few airlines that maintain a web-portal based customer satisfaction survey platform and are doing many other things to enhance the flying experience.

That being said, it’s evident that United does not currently employ a social media strategy to scan and ensure that their customers expressions are being intercepted to reduce defection in the hugely competitive airline vertical.  If they had employed this type of a strategy, a representative from say “United_Cares’ could have chimed in just as quickly as my followers and sent me a message saying “Anything I can do to help?” That, would have been a wow and undoubtedly would have resulted in me congratulating them for extending a hand.  In reality they didn’t, now resulting in viral transmission crossing the wires here and hitting as far as the UK.

Is the entire airline to blame for two flight attendants terrible attitude? Not-at-all.  However what they didnt know is I am an Air Canada Super Elite passenger who was traveling on a United code share flight.  When it comes to repeat customers and brand loyalty there isn’t anyone higher in this snack bracket than me and it’s awful that this one experience has tainted my view on the Airline.  Will I stop traveling with them? Probably not, but what I am most interested in is preventing this from happening again to others.  To quote a recently blogged line by Kristen Victory:

“In this case, United doesn’t seem to have a link to bloggers, twitterers, or other social media outlets.  Hopefully, they will take the hand Jason Tryfon is attempting to outstretch.  United, he wants to help.  And, you need it”

Update: Feb 11, 2009

I was contacted by a United Customer Relations representative by the name of Marcy who was very, very nice. She was empathic and wanted to ensure me that United cares about every experience their traveller has.  While broaching the subject of viral transmission and employing a Twitter and social media strategy and how I could possible help United leverage this further, I was told that the economic situation could possible be a cause for additional resources to be added to further add to their (United’s) already hundreds of representatives in the customer relations team that receive phone calls, emails and letters already.  Admittedly Marcy was unaware of Twitter or how it could be leveraged and after a few times of trying to explain how a few existing representatives could be positioned to handle a “United_Cares” account it became evident that I should be speaking to a VP level contact to explain a strategy further.

The call ended with the representative informing me that United does have a group of people who search negative expressions about the brand and they certainly do care about all travel experiences, even though mine took place with “Shuttle America” who operates that flight path for United.  I informed Marcy I understand, however “United’s logo is on the plane and for all intensive purposes that represents who I am flying with, aside from the fact I bought the ticket full price through Air Canada who code shared it with United who then has a 3rd party operate the route” She agreed very nicely.  In conclusion I realized that to meet with the appropriate people at United to assist them would require an executive level contact in PR or communications that I could meet with and requested her pass on the following information to whomever that may be.

“I’ll invest my time and money and will fly to meet with an Executive contact on my own dime to assist in understanding how a social media strategy can be put in play FREE.” Marcy said she would certainly pass on the information.

So, aside from this, this seems to be the end of the story.  I was offered a heartfelt apology and ensured the information would be passed on to ensure training practices would be employed to prevent these things from happening in the future.  I am doubtful I will be taken up on my offer and although Marcy was incredibly nice and empathic I feel this chapter is closed, albeit a few words short.

What do you think? Chime in below with your feedback and feel free to share should you feel my piece is worthy.