I just wanted to share a nice story on
how treating your customers right means a happy customer that will give
repeat business.
After a recent trip to Chicago I was
flying back home to Pittsburgh on a Southwest Airlines flight when due
to bad weather on the east coast we had to sit on the runway at Pittsburgh
International Airport because all the Southwest gates were occupied with
planes that couldn’t depart for their destination. We were only sitting
on the runway for about 30 – 40 minutes and to be honest I didn’t think
much about it, I had my book with me so I just settled back and kept reading.
Today I received a letter from Southwest
apologizing for the delay that I had experienced and accompanying the letter
was a $100 voucher off my next flight with Southwest. To me this was totally
unexpected as it wasn’t the airlines fault that there was a storm on the
east coast and I don’t think anybody on the flight was too put out over
what happened, I know I certainly didn’t complain to anybody.
Terri flies every week with US Airlines
and her flights are always delayed due to some reason or another and she
has never received a single apology from the airline, after seeing the
letter I received she’ll be trying to fly Southwest in the future also…
It’s no wonder the big airlines are
struggling to get by when airlines like Southwest treat their customers
properly.
Dec's Dom Blog 
Airlines are famous for bad customer service, and it’s why so many of them are clamoring now for government assistance here in the US. Nice to hear that a major airline has figured out that loyalty comes from fair treatment, not from mileage.
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This is fallout from the major disruptions to schedules last year in the holiday season. Several airlines are doing it, and Southwest is leading the way. Here’s a New York Times story about Southwest’s apologies.{ Link }
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US Airways is one of three “banned” airlines in my book at the moment (the others are Northworst and Air France). No amount of new planes (i.e. yesterday’s order for new A350s, whenever they come) will help Useless Scareways…not until they clean out their cabin crews and gate/desk agents.I don’t think this is a big airline vs. small thought..first, Southwest is bigger than all other domestic airlines except American; second, JetBlue has had its share of trouble. I think it’s customer orientation, plain (plane?) and simple. With all of my travel, I’m increasingly disgusted with American Airlines’ attitude (despite being 2 million miles into them) and more often pleased with United.Anyway, glad you experienced a positive on Southwest. Midway is too far from here for me to fly them (generally), but clearly they are doing many things right.
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