The Plane Truth about Unsung Heroes of the Airline Industry
Warning: The Following Post Contains Positive Content About The Airline Industry That May Be Unsuitable For Readers Prone to Random Flashback Fits of Air-Rage or Recent Fliers Recovering From Airline Stress Syndrome. Reader Discretion Is Advised.
I’m trying to adopt a sunnier outlook. When it comes to the proverbial glass, I must confess that chances are very good that I would not be able to see it as anything but half empty AND a doomsday sign that global warming is wreaking havoc with our environment – in this case, causing an ever-increasing escalation in the rate of water evaporation from a little tumbler of Evian.
Being negative or pessimistic is a job hazard. The nature of the public relations business requires one to be ever mindful of how the most innocuous of story ideas could potentially backfire on a client – the ol’ “worst case scenario” scenario, if you will. You only need to be burned once by a reporter flipping a story ass-over-teakettle on you once to realize the price for lowering your guard can be mighty hefty.
But today I’ve decided to trade in my current designer spectacles for those of a more tinted, rose-colored variety and focus the rest of this post on celebrating the uncelebrated. On honoring the unhonored. On praising the unpraisable. (and apparently making up some new words while I do it!)
And with that in mind, who better to champion than the hapless reservation agents who work in airline call centers?
Now wait a minute – hear me out on this before you go looking for that oversized “Gong Show” hook to drag me off the stage�
Can you imagine a more thankless job than working as a reservation agent for a U.S. airline? Seriously – when that incoming call lights up, they know automatically that it’s not the Publisher’s Clearinghouse Prize Van asking for directions. Whatever the nature of the call, it’s undoubtedly going to be a patience-testing one for the reservation agent. Maybe it’s Cheap Charlene in St. Louis trying to finagle a flight change without having to pay the usual $100 penalty fee or the first-born child forfeiture that is standard language in all ticketing contracts. Or maybe it will be Irate Ira in Chicago demanding an explanation on why his flight to LaGuardia was cancelled due to “weather conditions” on a day when it’s sunny and clear in New York City.
Let’s face it, shift after shift, call after call, airline reservation agents serve as the punching bags for the frazzled, frustrated, frantic flying public. And to be honest, many of them sound it and act it. I don’t know what has me scratching my head more – that most of them don’t quit before the end of their first week or that they aren’t fired before their first anniversary. “Customer service” clearly means different things to different airlines.
Fortunately, there is at least one airline that must use the same dictionary to define the term that I do, for they truly seem to get it. I’m talking about American Airlines.
My experience over the years with most American Airlines reservation agents is that they are extremely professional, courteous, supportive, and surprisingly, often friendly and engaging. Sure there have been some notable exceptions � and they all seem to work in American Airlines’s Connecticut call center � but if you are fortunate to be routed through the Dallas or Tucson call centers, chances are better than even that you will have a productive call. The few times I wasn’t able to remedy the situation with the initial call center contact, an American Airlines supervisor always made things right. Perhaps even more surprising? I once filed a complaint online and someone from American Airlines actually called me to discuss it! Not just an automated “thank you for your comment” response promising me that they appreciate travelers’ feedback and take their commitment to customer service very seriously and blah blah blah. A real person called me. To discuss my complaint. She listened to me. Bliss.
Unlike some of its competitors, American Airlines has resisted moving its call center operations overseas. If you call and say “I want to fly from JFK to San Francisco,” an American Airlines agent probably won’t ask you “Where is JFK?” (as a United agent in India recently asked me). I’ve rarely been on hold for more than five minutes. And if you treat the American Airlines reservation agent with respect and a friendly manner, I’ve found that she or he just might waive that aforementioned first-born forfeiture requirement if you decide you’d really rather not spend that Saturday night in Des Moines as originally ticketed.
Maintaining superior call center operations staffed by knowledgeable, caring reservation agents must clearly be a calculated business decision. The American Airlines executive responsible for steering the customer relationship marketing function across aa.com, AAdvantage® travel reward programs, and the reservation call centers over the last year is an executive named Isabella Goren. Interestingly, her bio says that she joined American Airlines a decade ago as a financial analyst, subsequently moving on to the HR, revenue management, and investor relations functions. Clearly she’s learned a few lessons in those earlier roles about the interrelatedness of employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and revenues for she is doing one heck-of-a-job � at least on the reservations call center front.
Make no mistake, I’m no pom-pom waving cheerleader for American Airlines, though I do regard them as the least horrible among the major carriers. Instead of “Doing What We Do Best,” a more truthful twist of their erstwhile slogan would be “We’re Not as Bad as The Rest.” I simply tend to fly American Airlines because the carrier dominates the cities I travel to most often.
Perhaps Ms. Goren will eventually prove to be to the U.S. airline industry what Sir Richard Branson is to that of the U.K. – the maverick, the innovator, the applecart-upsetter who successfully challenges the plodding prevailing wisdom (or lack thereof) about how airlines are run, creating many happy airline passengers and more than a few shifted paradigms in her wake. She at least seems to be flying in that direction.
But then again, perhaps Sir Richard will reprise that role here himself with Virgin America, the domestic airline he and his partners will soon begin flying with routes between New York and California. If they are even half as successful at creating brand loyalty among Americans as they have been in Europe, they will give the U.S. domestic airlines an unprecedented run for their money.
Indeed, I’m flying Virgin America to San Francisco in two weeks because I’ve grown tired with how stingy Ms. Goren is when it comes to allowing AAdvantage members like me to use points to book business class seats on certain flights. If Ms. Goren isn’t deeply concerned about her frequent flyer customers already flirting with Sir Richard’s airline before it’s even left the ground, then it’s only a matter of time before those wings that have helped her soar up the corporate ladder get deservedly clipped.