As I get ready for a travel-filled year (first stop: Costa Rica!), I've been shopping around for airline tickets. Should I go with the best-priced airline or do I go with a carrier that provides excellent service...Wait! What airline provides great service? My mind goes completely blank...
If, by chance, you are an executive or manager in the airline industry, I highly recommend reading Kevin Stirtz's post, Four Things Airlines Can Do to Improve Customer Service. The bottom line is: Get personal, be committed, and become involved with the whole process. Don't just hide behind your desk all day giving out orders and signing off on "policies".
And speaking of leaders in the airline industry...
Christopher Elliott has a list of 5 travel icons who should have a blog. I would definitely put Richard Branson or Virgin on my wish list. I would also love to know what goes on in the minds of United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton (What does he really think about the extra charge for a second piece of luggage?) and American Airlines CEO Gerard Arpey.
Here's a link to a video to an interview of TODAY's Ann Curry and AA CEO, Gerard Arpey. Arpey couldn't quite articulate what exactly his company is going to do improve customer service. And how many times did he mention the word "profitability"?
Love the cartoon and the article is great too. Speaking as a consumer, and everyone else is too, even executives, customer service is something that should be a very high priority. In an age of high competition and social networking, bad publicity about bad customer service can spread faster than the flu through a grade school. From the customers point of view, no one wants to be treated like the only reason you care about them is because you want their money. Treating people like human beings first and customers second should be the mantra of anyone that has concern for customer loyalty.
Posted by: Marvin | February 6, 2008 9:43 AM | Permalink to Comment