Memo to US Haters

[Travelpro72]

The sad truth is this..... Imagine how many passengers and FF's feel screwed that DON'T post on here. Those that know nothing of a site to voice your frustration. They simply don't return. In my opinion there certainly IS a drop in US's FF's. The TRUE FF's that is that fly and give money to the company. I'm not talking about Aunt Edna that holds "Silver" from buying from 1-800 Flowers. The company offered passengers promotions and were selling status. US has lost SOOOOOO many high priced fliers that were fleeced for the last time. They may not post on usaviation but they certainly ARE gone. How sad that is.

 

[NCFL]

The sad truth is this..... Imagine how many passengers and FF's feel screwed that DON'T post on here. Those that know nothing of a site to voice your frustration. They simply don't return. US has lost SOOOOOO many high priced fliers that were fleeced for the last time. They may not post on usaviation but they certainly ARE gone. How sad that is.

There have actually been studies conducted on this and there are numbers to back it up. I'm trying to think if I can remember specifically what they were. *wood burning while brain churns*

This figure is admittedly outdated, but it's a ballpark for discussion purposes. The study was done more than once, and the number fluctuated over time, but only by a little bit, so it's a pretty good marker. Between just north of half and just south of two-thirds of the customers the studies who encountered a problem with US said nothing and walked away to a competitor.

I no longer have access to proprietary information like the average cost of a ticket, etc. but back when I did, the potential incremental revenue loss per month because of customer dissatisfaction was measured in the tens of millions of dollars.

See the thread on the SJU trip report and fiddle with the numbers in your head. How many pax were disappointed enough with the Cheez Whiz and nuked Chips Ahoy to finally walk away? How much money was potentially lost - and that's assuming those Whizzed customers only penalized US with one ticket purchase, not a lifetime of purchases as in Van's case.

 

[SS255]

I walked away a few months ago, and I never bothered to tell US. I am waiting to see if they notice.

I did not renew my Club membership when it expired in October, and my credit card expenditures amount to just a couple of monthly bills which are set up to automatically charge my card. The only reason why I do not cancel the card is because I have had the card for 11 years, it has a high credit limit, and I don't want to ding my credit score.

Granted, I don't spend the kind of dollars that the true road warriors spend, but after 7 straight years of approximately $5,000 in annual ticket purchases (not to mention the mint they made on my credit card purchases, and the revenue they got from my traveling companions who would have flown other carriers), it amounts to a decent chunk of coin.

 

[US Oringinal]

I walked away a few months ago, and I never bothered to tell US. I am waiting to see if they notice.

I did not renew my Club membership when it expired in October, and my credit card expenditures amount to just a couple of monthly bills which are set up to automatically charge my card. The only reason why I do not cancel the card is because I have had the card for 11 years, it has a high credit limit, and I don't want to ding my credit score.

Granted, I don't spend the kind of dollars that the true road warriors spend, but after 7 straight years of approximately $5,000 in annual ticket purchases (not to mention the mint they made on my credit card purchases, and the revenue they got from my traveling companions who would have flown other carriers), it amounts to a decent chunk of coin.

Sadly, I doubt Tempe will notice or even care. They are much too busy trying to devise new schemes on how to get more money from their "revenue stream" (most decent companies call them customers). During the last couple months they've been putting all their resources behind the introduction of hand-held devices onboard the aircraft to try to enhance and increase revenues from selling $2 cokes!!!! They're also trying to figure out how to jam as many coach seats on the new A330-200's at 31" seat pitch--at the same time they are fighting the AFA on providing proper crew rest bunks on the new aircraft. In addition to writing up and disciplining employees for such things as holiday sick-calls and uniform infractions, they have the constant task of trying to explian away our DOT consumer complaints as " the revenue" "adjusting" to our new business model.

THE SANDCASTLE HAS THEIR HANDS FULL!!!!!! THEY ARE WAY TOO BUSY TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT FREQUENT FLIERS LEAVING IN DROVES. THEY REALLY CAN'T BE BOTHERED BY ALL THE MOANING AND GROANING AND COMPLAINING BY THE "REVENUE STREAM".

...sad, but true....

(in my opinion)

 

[NCFL]

The sad truth is this..... Imagine how many passengers and FF's feel screwed that DON'T post on here.

And another thing...

For a while (and it did get nixed because of project funding) we had a program in the East where we called Elites from flights that were seriously screwed up - really late, very poorly handled, incidents that frightened pax, etc. - to apologize, smooth ruffled feathers, etc. They were rarely compensated. Just given a little attention with a personal phone call from a live human being.

We saw a very significant increase in miles flown among the people who were called versus the control group who were on the same flight but who weren't called. Something like a 25 percentage point difference between the two populations.

It was very labor intensive, and we did eventually have to go the form letter route, but each one was hand-written and specific to that flight's situation, included as much of an explanation as possible (not excuses...facts) and was generally mailed within 24 hours of the event. We almost never got rebuttals.

Bottom line - we tried in our own way to do anything and everything to KEEP loyal customers...to ease them through changes when we could, help them over the bumps, etc. I'm sure Tempe does the same thing in their own way too. Maybe it's just done with a style that the people accustomed to the old "East way of doing things" don't like.

 

[SS255]

For a while (and it did get nixed because of project funding) we had a program in the East where we called Elites from flights that were seriously screwed up - really late, very poorly handled, incidents that frightened pax, etc. - to apologize, smooth ruffled feathers, etc. They were rarely compensated. Just given a little attention with a personal phone call from a live human being.

The personal (especially when proactively initiated and not in response to a complaint) is far more satisfying, IMO, than having a voucher slapped at you, enclosed with a cover letter riddled with typos and grammatical errors. I have been the recipient of both, so I know from whence I speak. In fact, usually the phone calls (with no vouchers) were in response to incidents which were far more upsetting than the incidents for which I received vouchers.

Besides.....the vouchers are such a pain to redeem that I'd rather NOT get one. My time is far more valuable.