Dear Mr. Smisek,
During a recent flight from Milwaukee to LA I happened to read your article regarding rewarding rewarding good customer service. Your article called out that United aimed to reward top performers in customer support with a generous, though surely well deserved, $50,000 bonus. I applaud this approach as I continually see erosion of customer service by companies through the shaving of costs and overuse of procedure rather than asking, expecting and rewarding people to think.
I would like to ask though, how committed are you to this concept? If you are willing to reward folks for superior service, are you also committed to accountability in your co-workers? Will you discipline them, dock their pay and terminate them when appropriate as well?
The reason I ask is that I am writing this while flying on flight 3829 on June 16th. This flight started well enough with no waiting to print my boarding pass at the check in kiosk. After getting to the gate area, it turns out the flight was oversold. Not great, but luckily there were enough volunteers so I was still able to board. But now, we're running late due to weather. Well, there's certainly nothing United can do about the weather. But your folks have been to this rodeo before. So I was surprised when my question about the status of connecting flights was met with blank stares. The gate agent said "I'm sure they are all delayed."
To which I replied, "Well that's rather important." Again the blank look. He ducked away again and came back saying "Everything is delayed."
Fast forward to landing in IAH. We touch down around 8:25. Flight is set to depart around 8:47. And we're on a regional jet so we're coming into terminal B. Outgoing flight is in C. Since it's also a regional jet, there were a lot of gate checked luggage. So as we wait for that, an agent shouts to the others who, like me are going to LA, that they are going to try to hold the flight to LA, but no guarantees. I ask if a cart would be provided and the quick answer no. "So you're telling me to run?" "Yep."
So I run. I'm a casual runner thankfully, but running in pants lugging a briefcase and roller bag is a special kind of hell. And since I don't know IAH that well it's hard to navigate at running speed though the crowds. The tram stop did not come soon enough. Nor did the tram. Thankfully, it did arrive and got us over to C. Breathing hard and sweating, I continued to run through the terminal toward the very last gate on the end, C-37.
As I puffed up to the gate to check in, the agents didn't take enough time to notice several of us run up or greet us in any way. Continuing their conversations with each other, the gal merely held out her hand for our boarding passes. Once done, I said, between deep breaths and with sweat running down my face and body, "You know I saw about a dozen carts sitting around between here and the last gate."
"That's because they are waiting for handicapped folks."
"That's great but you had several hours to plan for this delay so what gives?"
"Yes, we knew about the delay, that's why we're holding the flight," says the gal with a white shirt (lead or supervisor perhaps as others seemed to defer to her).
"Gee thanks (sarcastically)," I say. "I didn't pay for a workout, just a flight."
(laughter) " Oh but it is a good workout!"
Jeff, I was really appalled by this exchange. I stared back open-mouthed and said to myself, "What a b!$&@!"
It seems to me that is not the sentiment that you want your co-workers to create among your passengers. No greeting. No offer of assistance at all. No free drink or upgrade offer. NOT EVEN AN APOLOGY. The kindness of a passenger and their specific family need allowed me to switch into a emergency exit seat. So, I fell heavily into the seat and panted and sweated. And probably made everyone around me rather uncomfortable. In fact, I'm quite sure I was exuding quite an aroma after that run
Upon arrival at LAX, our gate was occupied. We were actually only a few minutes late having made up some time in the air. In fact, the pilot executed one of the softest and smoothest landings I've ever had the privilege to experience. Unfortunately, we spent about 30 minutes waiting for the gate to clear. The explanation they gave didn't make much sense either.
During a recent flight from Milwaukee to LA I happened to read your article regarding rewarding rewarding good customer service. Your article called out that United aimed to reward top performers in customer support with a generous, though surely well deserved, $50,000 bonus. I applaud this approach as I continually see erosion of customer service by companies through the shaving of costs and overuse of procedure rather than asking, expecting and rewarding people to think.
I would like to ask though, how committed are you to this concept? If you are willing to reward folks for superior service, are you also committed to accountability in your co-workers? Will you discipline them, dock their pay and terminate them when appropriate as well?
The reason I ask is that I am writing this while flying on flight 3829 on June 16th. This flight started well enough with no waiting to print my boarding pass at the check in kiosk. After getting to the gate area, it turns out the flight was oversold. Not great, but luckily there were enough volunteers so I was still able to board. But now, we're running late due to weather. Well, there's certainly nothing United can do about the weather. But your folks have been to this rodeo before. So I was surprised when my question about the status of connecting flights was met with blank stares. The gate agent said "I'm sure they are all delayed."
To which I replied, "Well that's rather important." Again the blank look. He ducked away again and came back saying "Everything is delayed."
Fast forward to landing in IAH. We touch down around 8:25. Flight is set to depart around 8:47. And we're on a regional jet so we're coming into terminal B. Outgoing flight is in C. Since it's also a regional jet, there were a lot of gate checked luggage. So as we wait for that, an agent shouts to the others who, like me are going to LA, that they are going to try to hold the flight to LA, but no guarantees. I ask if a cart would be provided and the quick answer no. "So you're telling me to run?" "Yep."
So I run. I'm a casual runner thankfully, but running in pants lugging a briefcase and roller bag is a special kind of hell. And since I don't know IAH that well it's hard to navigate at running speed though the crowds. The tram stop did not come soon enough. Nor did the tram. Thankfully, it did arrive and got us over to C. Breathing hard and sweating, I continued to run through the terminal toward the very last gate on the end, C-37.
As I puffed up to the gate to check in, the agents didn't take enough time to notice several of us run up or greet us in any way. Continuing their conversations with each other, the gal merely held out her hand for our boarding passes. Once done, I said, between deep breaths and with sweat running down my face and body, "You know I saw about a dozen carts sitting around between here and the last gate."
"That's because they are waiting for handicapped folks."
"That's great but you had several hours to plan for this delay so what gives?"
"Yes, we knew about the delay, that's why we're holding the flight," says the gal with a white shirt (lead or supervisor perhaps as others seemed to defer to her).
"Gee thanks (sarcastically)," I say. "I didn't pay for a workout, just a flight."
(laughter) " Oh but it is a good workout!"
Jeff, I was really appalled by this exchange. I stared back open-mouthed and said to myself, "What a b!$&@!"
It seems to me that is not the sentiment that you want your co-workers to create among your passengers. No greeting. No offer of assistance at all. No free drink or upgrade offer. NOT EVEN AN APOLOGY. The kindness of a passenger and their specific family need allowed me to switch into a emergency exit seat. So, I fell heavily into the seat and panted and sweated. And probably made everyone around me rather uncomfortable. In fact, I'm quite sure I was exuding quite an aroma after that run
Upon arrival at LAX, our gate was occupied. We were actually only a few minutes late having made up some time in the air. In fact, the pilot executed one of the softest and smoothest landings I've ever had the privilege to experience. Unfortunately, we spent about 30 minutes waiting for the gate to clear. The explanation they gave didn't make much sense either.
I think you should award your top folks. Do it often. Do it Loudly. But if people can't buy into the golden rule and treat customers the way they'd like to be treated... Well, then you have to decide if you really are committed to customer support and hold people accountable. Often. And loudly.
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