Interview with UA VP of Customer Service Barbara Higgins
Today's Denver Post has a interesting interview with VP of customer experience Barbara Higgins:
Q: What are the areas where United Airlines has the most work to do to improve the customer experience?
A: It's really being able to individualize the experience while still managing the large volume of guests that we greet on a daily basis, recognizing that an occasional traveler has pretty different needs than a frequent traveler or business traveler....
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I hope that the excellent Disney customer service will be used for aspects of United's operations. Disney understands that loyalty and good service will create committed customers, and it tries to remedy any issues.
The flight attendant was on the same flight and remembered him.
Those excellent employees do exist and, IMO, rather than having someone who spews corporate bravo sierra doing interviews, that FA should be the VP in charge of customer service. Kick some butts...
Of course, it's bravo sierra that makes the big bucks in many jobs today...
Maybe a bottle of water and an apple will show up on INTl F menu as a Charlie Trotter specialty item?
She's not been in the position long so let's see what happens over the coming months. The nuts and bolts are starting to change (premium cabin upgrades for example) and hopefully a newfound sense of pride in working for UA will start to filter along the ranks.
Next time there is a major mechanical, or serious weather delays, how about coming around the snaking CS lines in the terminals delivering apples and bottles of water?
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Quote:
Originally Posted by transpac-canuck
That article sucked. (Not because of Ms. Higgins, but because the Denver Post put about as much effort into writing it as I did.) Fluff piece.
Yeah, the Post should have just asked for a press release rather than calling this an interview. Higgins also could have proactively provided more specifics. To give her the benefit of the doubt, maybe she did, but the Post edited them out in the interest of brevity or due to indifference.
One specific Higgins did mention is the post-flight customer surveys--though those surveys mean nothing unless they translate into improved CS.
One thing she didn't mention, frequently discussed and debated in this forum, is whether UA will find a way to encourage and get more feedback re great personnel such as the "water and apple" FA and re the occasional bad apples who can lose it a lot of business. And again, such feedback means nothing unless it translates into UA rewarding the great personnel and improving or ridding itself of the lousy ones who cause customer frustration. Also important is letting customers know that it actually hears them and acts on such information, which could go a long way toward alleviating frustration.
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This article gets particularly for this:
Q: How do you deal with the challenge of improving the customer experience when there are fewer employees in call centers and other areas of the company?
A: Not everything is really related to the amount of staff you have, but it's really what processes you have in place. Certainly reducing staffing and not changing a process may not necessarily lead to a good outcome, but in many cases there are ways to do things a lot more efficiently and more productively that don't necessarily require as many people.
What this means is there won't be more CSR's during irrops, no effort to reduce lines at checkin and gates, etc. Only more 'processes'. My read on the process:
pax: my flight has been cancelled
GA: sorry, you'll have to find a new flight....next
That is how you get more efficient with fewer people.
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I wish UA would make their execs do a monthly experience as a customer. Not calling ahead of time and saying that they're a VIP or anything but experience UA the way the rest of us do. Perhaps then we would see some changes. As far as her not being there long, saying that they need more processes, etc. It's not that there are too many people at this company - it's that there are too FEW (too MANY in management; too FEW on the front lines).
Not recognizing what the REAL issues are seems to be the hallmark of UA these days.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ldsant
I wish UA would make their execs do a monthly experience as a customer. Not calling ahead of time and saying that they're a VIP or anything but experience UA the way the rest of us do. Perhaps then we would see some changes. As far as her not being there long, saying that they need more processes, etc. It's not that there are too many people at this company - it's that there are too FEW (too MANY in management; too FEW on the front lines).
Not recognizing what the REAL issues are seems to be the hallmark of UA these days.
you get a for the day!
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channel 9...more than tower communication...it brings flights to life!
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ldsant
I wish UA would make their execs do a monthly experience as a customer. Not calling ahead of time and saying that they're a VIP or anything but experience UA the way the rest of us do. Perhaps then we would see some changes.
This should happen at every company! It's surprising how few executives at customer service-oriented companies actually experience their own companies' services.
(On a related note, does UA have private jets for their execs, or do their execs fly in F?)
for the day!
