Originally Posted by
ConciergeMike
No, in fact the opposite. Vouchers in ridiculously high dollar amounts for trivial things is not good customer service. It is an indication of fear and it is essentially the same thought process as throwing money at a political/social problem and then being shocked years later when the problem is still there. The people on the receiving end are thrilled because the airline has conditioned them into thinking that a petty complaint will subsidize a good chunk (and in some people's cases, all) of a future flight.
The airline would rather give away revenue than lose a high-mile flyer who will also counter-recruit to their friends and colleagues. It's a sound idea that has been misapplied. The airline is giving away too much for too little, and the savvy consumer of today is expecting more and more for less and less.
Why do you say the problem is still there?
They use the data from those incidents to address the issue. If it's reported on board, it's written up. If it's reported after the fact, it's addressed. And the aggregate data (e.g., frequency of broken jack) is valuable since it lets them decide if their check processes are frequent enough.
Combine that with the fact that the customer gets something tangible immediately so they feel they have some recognition for the inconvenience, the vouchers are highly restrictive (much more than CO's voucher) are valid on base fare only (not including taxes), have huge breakage, and so on, not to mention the customer service on the apology card program is automated, so that there is no cost to handling the transaction.