Huff Post Article, Airline Customer is NOT always right...

I have... they have their issues, yes. But when they landed a plane at the wrong airport, it was in the news for a day and glossed over. It seems that the media prefers to go after the "big guys".

But their epic meltdown at MDW during the storm was crazy.

What a classic example of how a thread here at UA board usually goes off-topic, sometimes at post #2.

To be fair, this one was probably off-topic at post #1. It has nothing to do with United.

If it makes you feel any better, it is the same on the DL board.

It does, with everyone complaining about the lack of service, or I could stretch it and say it involves a previous CEO.

They won't even turn on CH 9!

As the referenced article does not mention current United operations or management, let's share this with the broader FlyerTalk community via the TravelBuzz forum. I'll move it there. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, United and TravelBuzz.

Interesting example of perspective. I would have said exactly the same thing on customer service but just reversed the airlines. The CO flight attendants seem to have no interest in providing a good flight experience; rather it's "get it over as quick as we can so we can chat in the galley." Sorry for the offense this will cause for some but that's been my experience.

No need another self indulgent, absolutive, airline made article about how those poor employees are persecuted.
Sickly sweet words good for a motivational speech/Tony Robbins internal coaching.
If customers could prove how many time is airline's fault (read point 2. CO_Nonrev_elite above), they could burn the books in no time.

That's the thing about employee empowerment-- it can go either way. Empowered employees with appropriate supervision, business metrics, and feedback systems in place will feel like stakeholders in the success of the company. They'll treat customers well because they see how it benefits them. As well as see how treating customers poorly hurts them.

Without appropriate policies and mechanisms in place, though, the dark side of employee empowerment appears. Employees with blind trust from Management become complacent or cocky as they realize "nothing bad is going to happen to me." That's when you see employees apply customer policies haphazardly or deliver service only at minimum required levels-- such as doing one quick drink service and then gabbing in the galley for the remainder of the flight.

This problem of empowerment going the wrong way was evident with with UA in the late 90s when the airline was majority owned by employees. On numerous occasions I witnessed employees treat customers badly. Even when the situation was escalated to a supervisor, the supervisor generally took an insulting and hostile stance against the customer. There was a clear attitude of, "You have to accept the way I'm treating you because no one above me will listen to your appeal."

I'm not sure I believe anything in the Huffington Post. Yet, UA is leading the charge and AA and DL are following in having frustrated employees and unhappy passengers. When money become the end-all, everybody suffers. I really like companies which are employee-owned; wish we had more of them.

The author actually wrote the article and posted it on his own blog in 2006. See http://positivesharing.com/2006/07/w...tomer-service/.

But money is the end-all for a business. If you don't make it, you don't survive. And for its employees - you don't pay them, they'll go elsewhere. Customers are often wrong, but a service business who forgets that the customers pay their wages is doomed to failure.

But you also have to realize that *some* customers are bad for business.

Why try to appease the 3% or whatever it is of customers who are unruly, and unreasonable when you can cut them loose and focus on your more important clients?

I do wish more companies would see this. Most of the time, yes, serve the customer and retain the business but at least have some judgment involved when they really are wrong. Back when I was a teenager with no mortgage, a very wrong customer and bad management caused to walk out of a job the one and only time I've done such a thing. As an adult now, I would love to tell that manager how wrong she was in backing up that customer. As a kid, I didn't know how to eloquently say it.