Great Customer Service by Continental Airlines
I was supposed to fly from San Francisco, through Houston to England tomorrow to see my Grandmother, who is not well.
Today’s news out of England (Plot to Bomb Jets Is Thwarted in Britain) has changed my plans. Or, to put it more accurately, after she heard the news, my wife asked me to change my plans. ;)
I’m writing this post because I figure that just as bloggers sometimes use their blogs to highlight bad customer service, we also have an obligation to highlight great customer service.
After making my decision not to go, I called Continental, and asked them to change my flight to a later date. I was helped by a customer service agent who said her name was Phillis. She was great. Kind, understanding and really helpful. She worked quickly to both get me another flight (in November) and to make sure that I would not be charged a change fee.
I’m not sure what the innovation is in all this.
Regardless, Continental Airlines took great care of me today.
The innovation is that Continental remembered what business it’s in at a time of crisis.
These days it’s too often a miracle.
Thanks for sharing the story.
Well done on pointing out great customer service. A former boss used to say to me for all the advertising etc the time that you can really differentiate yourself is when something goes wrong. If you can turn round an issue quickly, pulling out all the stops…you will beat the competition who are busy with excuses…this post reminded me of that.
Ok - I’m sold
For a major airline, what you say is, unfortunately, these days an “innovation”. Every turn they want a change fee and behave as if they did you a favor. After 2.5 m illion miles on Delta, I have moved most of my business to SW and I have also written several positive blogs about their attitude, efficiency. I have come to expect every employee there to be like “Phillis” above, not the exception…
Boeing’s new version of the 737 means that South West could fly their standard planes to London.
A few weeks ago, on a flight back from New York, I sat next to an executive from one of the major airline leasing companies. The company finances the planes that are used by major airlines.
He told me about a new long haul 737. The 737-700 ER (Extended Range).
According to Boeing, the 737-700 ER has a maximum range of of 5,510 nautical miles.
According to WebFlyer, the distance between San Francisco and London Heathrow is 5,350 standard miles, or about 4,649 nautical miles.
This means that SouthWest, which only flys 737s, could easily start providing international service.
It’ll be interesting to see if it happens.
if it does any time soon I would be surprised. I have watched them for a long time - they were my MBA case study and I got to present to their management (imagine as a young punk!) They are all about discipline in execution, growth. I think they see one or two majors - Delta, US air shutting down and that in itself will allow for decent growth. They are not yet in NYC, Atlanta, Charlotte - so many cities. They do not fly to Hawaii or Alaska yet.
I asked their CEO after a European trip a few years ago before RyanAir or other copy cats had taken off (and fares were high and service bad for that on the European majors) and they said it was too removed from their comfort zone. only this year did they install life vests on their flights - their routes don’t take them over water much. They do not fly redeyes - their planes are used almost non-stop from 6 to 12 so need the maintenance time. They could have franchised their brand around the world, but I think they still see a long of growth in the US. They appear more fascinated with how other low fare airlines like Jetblue and Airtran are innovating with live TV, frequent flyer programs etc.
I have flownin country and overseas several times but never in my life have I had an agent treat me like a complete idiot. I will do my best to fly any other airline if possible. I did report him but to this day I have had no response from the head office. My complaint was made via phone and e-mail with a request made for follow-up action. It hasn’t happened. All the other agents were very nice and apologized several times for his rude behavior! I’m sure I am not the first one he has treated in such a manor. I will not let it happen again, I’ll walk first!!!!!!
Yes this is an interesting point,there was a time once when only the very rich could fly, and to be aircrew was a glamerous job ,then it became very formular, now it is just a mess and you dont know what to expect when you turn up, i am currentley building a boeing
737 throttle and i have been looking at the history of airlines, it very interesting to look at it from start to present.
Continental Airlines calls its best customers “Elite”, but this is in name only and not in practice!
If you travel as frequently as I do, 141,861 miles in the first 5 months in 2009, and pay thousands of dollars on airfare, then you want to be rewarded for your loyalty and get upgraded when first class seats are open.
With Continental Airlines – don’t count on it! Consider this – I am a Platinum Elite which is Continental’s highest ranking frequent flyer; however, on my most recent flight I was #1 on their upgrade list and with 3 seats open in first class I thought the upgrade was a lock-in. Not so – a Continental employee (flight attendant) got one seat and two other travelers lower on the upgrade list got the other two seats. This is called Elite status!!! Continental doesn’t Elite you - they “Delete” you!
I wrote Continental’s Customer Care Department but I have not received a response. Maybe they Deleted their customer care department too!
When looking for an elite frequent flyer program -Delete Continental from your list.