Jack Bauer

Just to be sure, I understand what you are saying as well. I own a business and every once in a while I get a customer who is so ridiculously off base, didn't bother to read the rules, etc its all I can do to bite my tongue but I will tell you I do bite my tongue. For my business that involves a premium product, it is far better to lose even a couple thousand dollars once in a while than to be blasted on an industry message board scaring away hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of potential customers. This is the age of business where information travels at the speed of light as they like to say.

Here's a couple paragraphs from an article RE the "United breaks guitars" protest video that is traveling the world over right now:

Social Media Effect: Brands beware: disgruntled customers with large MySpace or Facebook followings, such as those who belong to bands, can be a social-media nightmare … especially if they can express themselves with a dose of creativity. This is Jeff Jarvis vs. Dell Computers translated into the YouTube genre. The number of views and comments posted in just three days—e.g., "My Brother worked for United as a baggage Handler and on the first day He watched othe Handlers open bags and steal the contents. He quit within the hour! Scum Bums!"—tells a greater story than one protest song. Unlike Dell, United issued an apology within days.
***
YouTube BrandWatch is The Big Money's exploration into how the world's best-known businesses, so adept at managing their images offline, are being perceived online, where control is harder to come by. Every week, The Big Money features a corporate-themed video that's had significant viewership on YouTube: some approved, some unapproved, some mashed-up combinations of the two. And we'll ask our readers to vote on how the video affects the brands. We think the responses will surprise you, and provide a window onto what is fast becoming the most important playground for corporate games. (Note: This feature has no official relationship to YouTube or its owner, Google.)

Jack Bauer

I think you are mostly right regarding the bottom of the scale (Joe Blow and his family going to Disney World) but people who fly legacy carriers more than a couple times a year make very calculated decisions on who they are going to go with, especially as it pertains to frequent flyer miles. These aren't necessarily first class type people but they fly enough that there is a loyalty to one airline UNTIL you show your lack of flexability and stuff it in their face. Just had this conversation with a friend of mine yesterday who is a die hard American flyer even though he lives in a Delta hub. He primarily goes with American due to his now accumulated FFM but also an incident where Delta piissed him off (could have rectified the situation with little cost but didnt) 7 years ago. I tell him there is new management and things have gotten somewhat better, he doesnt care. He will be with American until someone over there finaly screws him over and he will look to switch. What is the cost to Delta for not having this guy due to the incident 7 years ago.....conservatively I would say about $140,000 in lost revenue, and much more than that in good will when my friend tells all his friends and family about how Delta screwed him 7 years ago.

southbound

"He will be with American until someone over there finaly screws him over and he will look to switch."

EXACTLY THE POINT lather, rinse, repeat.

As someone pointed out, this is what is left of the airline industry. The consumer spoke years ago and now we are left with a career becoming joke fodder for late night tv and youtube. What would you expect when it is run by accountants, lawyers and bureaucrats.

Customer service is not, generally, valued by joe sixpack. He likes to be treated like someone important when he flies but is unwilling to pay. He buys non-refundable tickets and then when he misses a flight he simply badmouths his experience at the next family bbq and buys the cheapest ticket next year on his way to Vegas. Southwest has wonderful service and liberal change policies but if a LUV ticket is $5 more or stops in Oakland he flies non-refundable CAL.

Of all my flying and jumpseating around the world in the past 15 years I would rank my personal favorites in no order as TWA, United, Southwest and Delta. Sure many would dispute some of those choices.

I'll be the last one to justify CAL's customer service. I work there and I think it's consistantly average to lousy. You have to wonder about a company that sets it's own bar at clean, safe and reliable air transportation. Seems pretty low to me.

Point is, write a letter to the CEO, tell him you are an airline employee and you feel wronged. Tell him what lousy agent wouldn't help you in your time of need. Tell him how much you value CAL customer service and that you are willing to pay for it. Tell him how to improve things. Make management aware of the train they are slowly steaming towards mediocrity. That said, take some blame for not holding up your end of the deal (missing your flight) and stop whining on an internet message board for pilots. It will get you nothing but an inbox full of trash.

SoCalGuy

I agree with you, this is the "age of info at light speed transfer", however, you are beyond apples vs oranges in comparing the UAL debacle vs a person who bought the "cheap ticket" and not the "unrestricted" ticket that he/she needed in their case of poor planning.

You tell me in your business of high end retail that you cited above, that you would bite your tongue time and time again as 9 out of 10 Customers came back to you wanting things changed/refunded when they up front, did not read the terms of agreement?? I think not!! In an isolated case as you pointed out, great good on you!! In a small nitch market that I assume you operate, that may work great. Where does the airline draw the line in a MUCH MORE VAST arena?? If they should extend it to everyone regardless of fare class, what is the purpose of a full fare unrestricted ticket vs a restricted "Super Saver"???

In today's airline industry, airlines are roughly "giving away" 75%+ of all seats on each flight to make $$ margin on the premium fare & last minute traveler....that's a fact without secret. If each airline in todays economy just "bit their tongue" to 9 out of 10 "Super Saver" fare passengers so that the customer can make 'free' changes at will (further reducing revenue in an already bleeding market), they might as well just hand out FREE ticket vouchers to all those people up front as they walk into the airport.

Even though your idea sounds great in a rosey world, there are SO MANY other factors that you are not taking into account such as marketing/planning that each air carrier lays out to run their business model to make it work as far as fares vs seats vs routes ect...(looking at today's industry, I use that term loosely). All though I can appreciate your isolated analogy of running your personal business, I don't think you can make that comparison in this case with something so much deeper and fluid on a business scale. With all do respect, If EVERY person received that 'change your plans at will' courtesy....your idea of running a business would not get off the ground.

Wheels up

That guy is an insignificant exception. Most are lowest price clickers and the rest have their tickets bought by their corporate travel departments, are semi-captives of FF programs that they have a lot of miles invested in, or have few choices due to their schedule and destination.

As far as service goes, I don't think there's a lick of difference between the major carriers, and that includes Southwest. In the industry recognition awards, I think CAL is one of the higher rated airlines.

FlyingViking

You guys ever notice that Spanky is a 737 FO??? As a 737FO and with a daughter he is doing his best to see combined with a divorce, how can anyone blaim the guy for buying the cheapest ticket possible? Now, if our dear management could start paying us normal wages again, maybe the guy would not be forced to buy cheap tickets. Give the guy some slack fellas, he is one of us...

SoCalGuy

As I said in my first post on this thread....it sucks that it came to this. Stepping aside and looking at the facts that you pointed out, your right, take care of our own may have appeared to have been lost in the translation.

Like myself, I'm sure others were looking at it in the same light, when you buy a fare under a particular class, expect to get what you purchased under "terms & conditions' of the ticket you bought.....like it or not, pretty black & white.

Besides....we are ALL assuming that this customer bought the "super saver" fare, maybe he did not....thus he may have every right to be PO'ed about the situation if that was the case and the agent was just being a D-Bag for not rectifying his unfortunate situation....I'm sure we have all seen this happen before.

When the rubber meets the road, I'm sure if anyone of us were behind the computer at the gate, we would have all taken care of this cat like one of our own.....your right, hands down.

577nitro

This guys right on. Customer service is everything. The flying public has a choice and if your company gives the ********** to a paying passenger, they've just lost that business forever. is it worth the extra hundred bucks? Your too buried in something if you don't believe this. My suggestion to Spanky, fly SWA, it appears they actually care about their customers.

577nitro

Is this in reference to flying on CAL? Yikes!!

Eric Stratton

I don't think anyone is blaming him for buying a cheap ticket. (if that is actually what he bought) They're saying he got what he payed for and he can't blame others.

Since the guy is one of us he should have known the rules better then others. He should be complaining to his ex wife and not bashing CAL for following policy. Now it would have been nice if they put his kid on a different flight but I'm sure they hear excuses all the time. If he bought a ticket that allowed for a change then he has a point.