Customer satisfaction in the airline industry. Seems like an oxymoron doesn’t it? It does not have to be the case. Sales Cooke recently experienced customer satisfaction when an employee focused on finding a solution and not being frozen by the problem. I want to congratulate the people at US Airways in Oakland, CA for solving a problem and getting me home.
Last Friday I was returning to Phoenix from Oakland until the plane I was supposed to fly in came up with a hydraulic leak. This is the kind of thing that gets flights canceled. This one was. Now what? The ground supervisor came up with a great idea–actually two great ideas. First, he commandeered his entire team and immediately began finding those travelers connecting through Phoenix a way to get to their final destinations. This did nothing for the people who were only going to Phoenix. But, it did address the immediate issue for those with connecting flights. I, for one, understood and appreciated his priorities.
Next, he found all of us Phoenix destined travelers a flight to Phoenix–departing out of San Jose airport. San Jose? This involved putting us in three vans in the middle of Friday evening rush hour traffic to make the 45-60 minute drive to San Jose. And, we had about 90 minutes to make the flight if we left now. Then there were the little details of ticketing, security, etc. What if we missed that flight? Needless to say, there were naysayers, skeptics and critics regarding this ambitious plan. I took the gamble. It was either that or spend the night in Oakland complaining. Besides, there was a later flight out of San Jose that we would make if we missed the first one.
The story ends with Sales Cooke arriving in Phoenix four hours later than originally scheduled, grateful that the US Airways supervisor took the time to create a solution. Traffic was light, security at the airport even lighter, and the San Jose to Phoenix flight was delayed 40 minutes so we had all kinds of time.
I love it when someone demonstrates their determination to find a solution regardless of the obstacles. If this person had read the airline process handbook or listened to the negative comments of those disgruntled passengers, he would have done nothing. Instead, he declared “I am just trying to find you a way to get to Phoenix tonight” and made things happen. This is how successful businesses are run–when they remember that their customers are why they are in business. Great job to the team in Oakland! For those who said “we’ll never make it”, I hope you learned a lesson.