I'm not a front lines employee, I deal with the passengers after they've completed their travel. Of course, I only hear the horriffic stories. But I am curious to know something. Everyday we get the US Daily and their number one piece of advice is to take care of the passengers, what options have they left the front lines to take care of the passengers? I know they have left us little to no options to take care of them once travel is over. How do you guys do it with flights that are continuously delayed/cancelled, and almost always oversold? Passengers are also telling us that the meal/hotel vouchers given out at the airports are useless and they always end up paying out of their pocket. Is this true?
US Daily News
- Thread starter happy1
- Start date
Too bad Tempe is big on words and little on action!
As far as the vouchers, it probably depends on the city the vouchers are being used in. When we call to check on rooms we make sure its done with a voucher rate since only a limited number of rooms are allocated on the voucher rate. Also, some hotels that got stuck in bankrtuptcy will not take the US vouchers either, even though its been many years and (supposedly) a different company. The same would hold true for the meal vouchers. As far as I know in my city, any of the restaraunts in the airport will accept the vouchers and we have several hotels that we deal with on a daily basis and have a good relationship with.
Several month's ago I reported seeing a couple given "vouchers" at a local hotel where the vouchers were not accepted. On a regular basis I have pax complain that meal vouchers were given in PHL and some of the airport restaurants refuse to accept them (TGI Friday's is the most commonly mentioned). So WHAT is up with this, and WHO has developed this "Customer Service Initiative"? Was it Team Tempe having a Keg Party on the Rio Salado BEFORE or AFTER a game of "TWISTER"? Either these people really have NO CONCEPT of CUSTOMER SERVICE or it certainly is N-O-T-H-I-I-G more than LIP SERVICE. (When I hear horror stories like this I encourage people to contact the DOT, Better Business and every media outlet avail to them.....don't bother with Consumer Affairs because after the compassionate Deborah Thompson (US East) retired the attitude in that forum is "We don't give a Sh*t".
I applaud these hotels for their efforts to make it certain in the passengers' minds that they should book away from USAirways. Period.
Doesn't matter if it's a new company. The greedy b****rds who ran USAirwyas into bankruptcy got their millions and split. It's nice to know that other companies are as vehemently opposed to doing business here as the employees suggest they should be.
SS255
Veteran
Bob, let's face it: They no longer even meet the bare minimum requirements of "complaint resolution." It's more like "The customer is the enemy." I'll bet they'd completely dissolve the entire Customer Relations department if they thought they could get away with it.
From what I have been told, TRY contacting Consumer Affairs.....and getting a response. IT JUST DOESN'T HAPPEN with Team Tempe. That's why the DOT address/website is more effective. It's IN YOUR FACE and exposes Your Management for what they are......."Envoys to CHINA"
LMAO!- Thread Starter
- #7
While you guys are busy doing "battle" on the front lines, and lets face it that's pretty much what the front lines are facing now a days with lousy computer programs and irate passengers, you may have missed the latest bulletins on US Aiways Customer Relations Department. THEY DON'T TAKE PHONE CALLS ANYMORE!!! They have 3-4 people taking phone calls in a department that receives 1000's of phone calls a day. Their hold times are hours long(no exaggeration), even on the "priority" line. If a passenger doesn't have hours to wait on hold they are supposed to email and supposively they will get a reply in 48 hours. I have now heard from passengers, that if they're lucky they'll get an automated reply to an email request that says their request will be reviewed and they'll get another reply in 6-9 weeks. I can't help but wonder if this was done because this department also doesn't have the tools they need to effectively do their job and were tired of being "blasted" by passengers for it?
Encourage them to contact the DOT............keep the numbers through THE ROOF! And hopefully an audit will be conducted and CHANGES Required. What kind of business ethics do these people have ANYWAYS........despicable. :down:
freedom
Veteran
- Feb 15, 2006
- 3,244
- 274
You know I’m glad you asked that question , I think it’s very important how we treat our customers , and that’s why I wanted to share with you my everyday tips for dealing with the flying public
The first thing you need to know is that sometimes there WILL be disagreement between you and the passenger , and things can, from time to time get heated and emotional thus causing the passenger to start yelling , remain CALM , take a deep breath , and yell back louder .. What’s happening is a classic vie for dominance , our airline has shown some form of weakness and the passenger now thinks it is time to strike , but mainly they do this out of a sense of fear or uncertainly because of what is or just happened to them .It is your job to exert control and restore order , thus providing appropriate customer service thereby restoring the passengers faith in our airline .
*Side note , on rare instances where this tried and true tactic does not work and escalates to what you perceive as physical aggression , immediately call for help , there is strength and safety in numbers , after you have a sufficient amount of co workers , wrestle the complainer to the ground and hold them there until they come to their senses and submit , after that you should have no more problems with that passenger .
Sometimes when your working on the ramp you will encounter extremely heavy bags , immediately drop the bag so you do not hurt yourself , After that you need to deal with what’s to be done with the bag , I myself prefer to scream at it , sometimes kicking and punching it , others to drive over the bag . The best thing to do from a professional point of view is , using proper bending ,pick up the bag and place it out of the way , after having done that , rip off the tag and send it to the other side of the world .
*side note , bags sent to china rarely return for some reason .
ANSWERING PHONES :
Remember , the right way is to NOT answer the phone , if by chance you do answer the phone you have two options left to you at this point , you can A either try and pretend to be a voice mail , or B reply that your not sure and transfer the person .
*side note , we do not have an extension number 911 , so please stop instructing people to hang up and try it
Dealing with managers .
If you deal with managers always affirm what they say , and if there are any operation problems always blame the “other†side of the company and note how things were “just fine “before the merger .
Dealing with doug parker .
He drinks his beer cold and likes dos equis .
*side note , offer to drive
The first thing you need to know is that sometimes there WILL be disagreement between you and the passenger , and things can, from time to time get heated and emotional thus causing the passenger to start yelling , remain CALM , take a deep breath , and yell back louder .. What’s happening is a classic vie for dominance , our airline has shown some form of weakness and the passenger now thinks it is time to strike , but mainly they do this out of a sense of fear or uncertainly because of what is or just happened to them .It is your job to exert control and restore order , thus providing appropriate customer service thereby restoring the passengers faith in our airline .
*Side note , on rare instances where this tried and true tactic does not work and escalates to what you perceive as physical aggression , immediately call for help , there is strength and safety in numbers , after you have a sufficient amount of co workers , wrestle the complainer to the ground and hold them there until they come to their senses and submit , after that you should have no more problems with that passenger .
Sometimes when your working on the ramp you will encounter extremely heavy bags , immediately drop the bag so you do not hurt yourself , After that you need to deal with what’s to be done with the bag , I myself prefer to scream at it , sometimes kicking and punching it , others to drive over the bag . The best thing to do from a professional point of view is , using proper bending ,pick up the bag and place it out of the way , after having done that , rip off the tag and send it to the other side of the world .
*side note , bags sent to china rarely return for some reason .
ANSWERING PHONES :
Remember , the right way is to NOT answer the phone , if by chance you do answer the phone you have two options left to you at this point , you can A either try and pretend to be a voice mail , or B reply that your not sure and transfer the person .
*side note , we do not have an extension number 911 , so please stop instructing people to hang up and try it
Dealing with managers .
If you deal with managers always affirm what they say , and if there are any operation problems always blame the “other†side of the company and note how things were “just fine “before the merger .
Dealing with doug parker .
He drinks his beer cold and likes dos equis .
*side note , offer to drive
SS255
Veteran
Bob,
Add an "R" between "A" and "T."
R - Refer them to the Customer Relations Phone Number!
Oops...we can't do that because CR isn't taking phone calls. I guess it means we don't have a HEART!
- Thread Starter
- #13
Funny, because I just had a passenger send me a copy of his reply from a week ago that says he will get a reply with in thirty days. It's a shame I forgot to ask the passenger that called me an idiot for a copy of the reply she received after contacting Customer Relations via email, as she stated her reply said 6-9weeks.
He got A REPLY didnt he? Thats the 24 hour reply, that we got your email. The resolution email comes much much later!
h34r: *Side note- if you want to make some money in stocks, buy some in the company that prints the US transportation vouchers because they're going thru them like hotcakes.
