In fairness to United Airlines (which wasn't very fair to me on Friday), our trip back from San Francisco was flawless. The plane wasn't crowded, it left on time, it got in early…and our suitcases were the first ones down the chute at Baggage Claim. Then again, my Friday problem with the company wasn't so much that things had gone wrong…it was that when something did go wrong, there was no mechanism to put it right. It all ties in with a mounting trend in a number of industries to treat Customer Service as some annoying obligation that they must handle in the cheapest, least-likely-to-serve-the-customer manner.
I have the same annoyance with computer and software companies that won't give you a Tech Support number (or worse, charge you to use it) and tell you that if you have a question or problem, send an e-mail. That enables them to hire someone cheap who may have very little to do with the company and who just sits there, checking e-mail every so often and responding with the most appropriate of several stock, pre-written replies. The stock, pre-written replies never seem applicable to my question or problem. If I have additional questions or don't understand something, that means additional e-mails…and a problem that might have been solved by a three minute phone conversation becomes a week of pen-palling with some stranger.
Several folks e-mailed me to tell me either their own airline horror tales or just the opposite. I heard from three different folks who have great experiences with United even when things go wrong. Why them and not me? Because in all three cases, they are not just Frequent Flyers but Incessant Flyers, with zillions of miles on United for business trips. One guy wrote that his company spends upwards of ten million bucks a year on airfare, most of it on United. For this, he gets services unavailable to me…including that if he isn't on a flight (his fault or theirs), he's on the next flight without question. He does not go onto the standby list with chumps like me. He gets a confirmed seat even if they have to bump someone else who has one. He also has a special Customer Service phone number that's answered in this country by someone who can actually do things for him and yes, I'm envious.
Preferential treatment? Absolutely…and I have no problem with that. If I ran United, I'd do cartwheels for passengers like that and give back rubs. I just think I'd be a little more caring about the customer who wasn't in that category.
It's like with these computerized phone-answering deals that tell you to press "1" if you want to make a payment, "2" if you need to check your balance, "3" if you'd like to order a pizza with black olives, etc. That can make things go quicker at times but too often lately, I find myself in need of an option they don't have: None of the Above. My problem is simply not on their menu. There's someone at that company who can help me and they've made it impossible (or at least, difficult) for me to get to that person. In some cases, it feels as if the system designer just plain didn't consider all contingencies. In others, you think that's the whole point of it…to avoid dealing with problems. That's sure how I felt on Friday sitting in the United terminal.