It seems that Doug has succeeded in moving US even farther towards his goal -
"Parker also said the industry puts too much focus on the customer"
Had to fly on US yesterday as it was the only option from PHL to my destination. The customer service I witnessed was comical at best.
The flight from PHL to CLT was delayed - and I will give US credit for calling me at home several hours prior to the flight to re-book. But that was the last shred of customer service that I experienced.
At the airport - the flight was posted for a 50 minute late departure - although priot to and at the original flight time no customer service agents anywhere near the gate. Two finally did show up about 10 minutes after the original flight time.
Not a single announcement about the delay - or connections - was made at the gate by either agent.
When the agents arrived at the gate -there were what appeared to be about 50 boarding passes that had printed out and were on the floor - presumably for people who had been rebooked who were going to miss their connections. One agent picked them up - and put them in a nice neat pile on the desk - and that is where they stayed. Again - no announcements about connections - rebookings - or anything from either agent.
IF a customer went to the desk and inquired - one of the agents would suffle through the stack of boarding passes and give them theirs for the rebooked flight - but ONLY if the customer inquired about their connection. At boarding - there was still quite a thick stack of new boarding passes that had not been distributed.
Finally boarded the plane - no boarding announcements about zones, luggage or anything - just mass crowing towards the gate and down the ramp.
The flight attendant on the plane making the announcements was quite funny - so monotone it was laughable - like the teacher on "Ferris Buelers Day Off".
About half way through the boarding process - a fight attendant went down the aisle closing all of the overhead bins - whether full or not - which of course slowed down the rest of the boarding since passengers then had to open the bins looking for space. Clearly they weren't full since no carry on bags had to be checked - so why they closed all of the bins before boarding was complete is a mystery.
After boarding - we sat at the gate for about 20 minutes while maintenance came on and off the plane - NOT A SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENT about any delay or what was going on. The first flight attendant clearly knew we weren't leaving since she parked her butt on the jump seat in the cockpit during this entire process.
Finally backed away from the gate - the pre-flight demo was barely completed - and in fact the first flight attendant didn't bother to demo the mask - just held it up like show and tell.
Then - the ONLY announcement from the cockpit - that we were delayed another 25 minutes going to Charlotte - presumably because of ATC - but not explaination given.
Finally took off.
No service in flight - and no announcements as to why - or apologizing for not being able to do service for some reason - or indicating our flight time - or arrival time - or anything. Didn't even see a flight attendant in the cabin until it was time to prepare for landing. There was some turbulance most of the flight - but not severe - and if you aren't doing service because of that at least say so!
Captain announces 15 mintues till landing - flight attendant comes down the aisle - tells me to turn off my iphone - my response "but the sign isn't on yet" - his response - "we are turning them off now anyway" - so I guess he makes up his own rules as to when and when you can't use electronic devices and the signs are just meaningless.
But the best was - in Charlotte - at the gate - a long line of passengers who had missed their connections at the gate - and I overhear the agent say "you mean Philly didn't give you your new boarding pass for your new flight?"
But hey - in Doug Parker's world this is a good thing - US certainly didn't focus too much on the customer yesterday on my flight - but then again - they didn't get me there on time either.
"Parker also said the industry puts too much focus on the customer"
Had to fly on US yesterday as it was the only option from PHL to my destination. The customer service I witnessed was comical at best.
The flight from PHL to CLT was delayed - and I will give US credit for calling me at home several hours prior to the flight to re-book. But that was the last shred of customer service that I experienced.
At the airport - the flight was posted for a 50 minute late departure - although priot to and at the original flight time no customer service agents anywhere near the gate. Two finally did show up about 10 minutes after the original flight time.
Not a single announcement about the delay - or connections - was made at the gate by either agent.
When the agents arrived at the gate -there were what appeared to be about 50 boarding passes that had printed out and were on the floor - presumably for people who had been rebooked who were going to miss their connections. One agent picked them up - and put them in a nice neat pile on the desk - and that is where they stayed. Again - no announcements about connections - rebookings - or anything from either agent.
IF a customer went to the desk and inquired - one of the agents would suffle through the stack of boarding passes and give them theirs for the rebooked flight - but ONLY if the customer inquired about their connection. At boarding - there was still quite a thick stack of new boarding passes that had not been distributed.
Finally boarded the plane - no boarding announcements about zones, luggage or anything - just mass crowing towards the gate and down the ramp.
The flight attendant on the plane making the announcements was quite funny - so monotone it was laughable - like the teacher on "Ferris Buelers Day Off".
About half way through the boarding process - a fight attendant went down the aisle closing all of the overhead bins - whether full or not - which of course slowed down the rest of the boarding since passengers then had to open the bins looking for space. Clearly they weren't full since no carry on bags had to be checked - so why they closed all of the bins before boarding was complete is a mystery.
After boarding - we sat at the gate for about 20 minutes while maintenance came on and off the plane - NOT A SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENT about any delay or what was going on. The first flight attendant clearly knew we weren't leaving since she parked her butt on the jump seat in the cockpit during this entire process.
Finally backed away from the gate - the pre-flight demo was barely completed - and in fact the first flight attendant didn't bother to demo the mask - just held it up like show and tell.
Then - the ONLY announcement from the cockpit - that we were delayed another 25 minutes going to Charlotte - presumably because of ATC - but not explaination given.
Finally took off.
No service in flight - and no announcements as to why - or apologizing for not being able to do service for some reason - or indicating our flight time - or arrival time - or anything. Didn't even see a flight attendant in the cabin until it was time to prepare for landing. There was some turbulance most of the flight - but not severe - and if you aren't doing service because of that at least say so!
Captain announces 15 mintues till landing - flight attendant comes down the aisle - tells me to turn off my iphone - my response "but the sign isn't on yet" - his response - "we are turning them off now anyway" - so I guess he makes up his own rules as to when and when you can't use electronic devices and the signs are just meaningless.
But the best was - in Charlotte - at the gate - a long line of passengers who had missed their connections at the gate - and I overhear the agent say "you mean Philly didn't give you your new boarding pass for your new flight?"
But hey - in Doug Parker's world this is a good thing - US certainly didn't focus too much on the customer yesterday on my flight - but then again - they didn't get me there on time either.
And this is way US is close to the bottom of the list in customer service and TOp of this list in complaints. The other airline you referenced is innovative, customer focused and a pleasure to fly.
