Thanks much for the comment and the link — indeed it was eye-opening (but not surprising).

I will have to be fair to airlines and say they are not unique in their ills. Just about every organization run by old, staunch dinosaurs qualifies for lack of clue. Banks, Service Providers, Telcos — even government. I am beginning to see a light at the end fo the tunnel in the form of customers taking back their power. I am hoping that it will continue to change and help the newly reorganized enterprises realize the reason to be in business is not to feed fat bonuses to incompetent executives but rather to serve their customers. We lost that in the past 20 years.

Thanks for reading and commenting…

Great post. I have my own nightmare experience with United Airlines – it was actually a case of the corporation completely turning around and ruining an incredibly fantastic experience that was provided by a checkin agent at Heathrow. But that’s another blog post….

I think there are always examples of individuals going out of their way in spite of the corporate culture drummed in from the top. I also think that much of what you experience is down to people simply doing what they’ve always done in a culture of “I really need to stay under the radar and just keep my job.”

Check out this post by Dustin Curtis on his blog. http://dustincurtis.com/incompetence.html

Seems Dustin was so dissatisied by the online experience he received at the hands of American Airlines that he redesigned their home page and submitted it. To his surprise a member of their usability team sent a personal reply, which, with permission, Dustin posted. That well meaning employee was fired within an hour of his letter appearing online.

Customer centric culture, indeed!

This isn’t to excuse the attitude you see at the airport, just perhaps to help understand it.

Gary

good to know that I am not the only one here with problems (not that i thought it was )

Thanks for the read
Esteban

Thanks for an interesting comment. To me, trying is not doing it wrong but recognizing the wrong behavior and trying to change it. This response was the same as I would have gotten if i I would have called to complain 4 years ago. This is not trying, it is perpetuating bad behaviors.

I agree with you that empowerment would go a very long way towards ending these complaints – even more so that monitoring and responding… alas, organizations don’t understand that quite as well… unfortunately.

Thanks for the read!
Esteban

Interesting question. I think that in any business function when the employees that carry it out are empowered you will see a major difference in results. I just wish that employers were to understand that as well.

Will read your blog later, when time allows

Thanks for the read
Esteban

In the end, employees are going to work for what they are measured on. It’s up to the company to establish new long term value metrics, and empower them to engage and wow customers.

http://freecrmstrategies.wordpress.com/2009/11/04/the-new-social-customer-advocate/

Best regards,
Brian
Brian Vellmure´s last blog ..The New (Social) Customer Advocate

Reading between the lines of that note here are a few guesses;

1) Yes they are trying – in that **some peon** was able to generate a token without kicking it upstairs to legal was probably a task that was debated for years!

2) This one hit me recently – I will be writing on it myself, but monitoring / acting in social media often lacks one fundamental piece; (note that there is one word in the following that I detest – but it works!)

Are those ‘voices’ that listen and respond through what we call social media, empowered – or enabled to actually do anything about it ???????

At an organization United’s size it may be as simple as the customer service equivalent of a “bug tracking tool”

The phrase “Can’t help you” does not change whether it is face to face or via twitter

Regards!

Elliot
Elliot Ross´s last blog ..On-line Backup – Speed Bumps

(in spanish, but you can use the translate option) http://www.lijit.com/search?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.lijit.com%2Fusers%2Fjesus_hoyos&q=American&type=blog

But I do have this specific story about how American doesn’t know why I fly with them:

(in spanish, but you can use the translate option) http://www.jesushoyos.typepad.com/crm_en_latinoamerica/2008/11/american-airlines-no-sabe-porque-yo-viajo.html

They have a TV Ad telling the customer that they know why you travel, and in the ad they show a passenger checking in with no lines, boarding the plane with no chaos, and when you take your seat the flight attendant gives you a pillow… We know this is not true…

I think that ALL airlines need to hire Disney to improve the customer experience!
Jesus Hoyos´s last blog ..¿Sabes lo que es SCRUM? #crmlatam #CRM

Seems that if we want to participate in the process of changing the experience(other than talking with our wallets) we need to find a way to cut through the noise and clutter of this wonderful thing that is social media. It’s two-way: marketers have to be creative to get to us…and now I need to be a cinematographer/videographer or singer/songwriter to get heard, these days.

Love point #2 above, by the way. Great, great thought! That idea should be mandatory starting yesterday!

Here’s 500 miles so you can come right back and have a do-over. It’s onus! Yay!

Thanks!
Russ
Seattle, WA
http://www.twitter.com/russhatfield

This my friend, is also the result of legislation/control/legal.
Rotkapchen´s last blog ..rotkapchen: @ekolsky You’re looking for understanding? Reminds me of the reverse when @donpeppers 1to1 did a piece on loyalty…"get a dog".

In a way there are conclusions from this story that tie very well to your previous SCRM roadmap posts, most specifically the need for actionable insights. I suppose the first thing about those is the creation of a corporate culture that supports the collection of those insights and their implementation.

http://peter.evans-greenwood.com/2009/10/11/using-what-you-have/