JFK First check in rudeness
Jul 2, 2019, 5:56 pm
#17
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Jul 2, 2019, 7:36 pm
#18
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What’s interesting about the incident - from a business / customer relationship angle - is that check-in agents (if / when used) will invariably be the initial point of human contact during a customer’s entire journey. They should therefore see themselves as the face of the airline, in the same way as all other members of front-line personnel - and, as such, responsible for providing a warm, courteous, welcome.
One would not be happy at being spoken to in an impolite manner by the receptionist upon arrival, at the start of a stay in a 5 Star hotel. And the same applies to the start of any First class air trip.
Jul 2, 2019, 8:47 pm
#19
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Having lived in NYC my entire life I can tell you right now 8 years isn't enough to experience what super rude is if you consider rolling eyes super rude. Most eyes rolls are caused by snobbiness. Just an FYI.
Jul 2, 2019, 10:02 pm
#20
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it doesn’t sound to me like the agent was rude. But everyone may conceive this differently.
what bothers me is the attitude that a ‘rude’ agent is not acceptable in F specifically. So it’s ok in coach? Customer service is customer service and the assumption that F pax are somehow more anointed and deserve of a better treatment sounds ridiculous to me. You get the seat and the food and the drinks, yes, but a customer service agent shouldn’t behave different between any passengers, no matter what class of travel they have purchased
what bothers me is the attitude that a ‘rude’ agent is not acceptable in F specifically. So it’s ok in coach? Customer service is customer service and the assumption that F pax are somehow more anointed and deserve of a better treatment sounds ridiculous to me. You get the seat and the food and the drinks, yes, but a customer service agent shouldn’t behave different between any passengers, no matter what class of travel they have purchased
Jul 2, 2019, 10:59 pm
#21
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it doesn’t sound to me like the agent was rude. But everyone may conceive this differently.
what bothers me is the attitude that a ‘rude’ agent is not acceptable in F specifically. So it’s ok in coach? Customer service is customer service and the assumption that F pax are somehow more anointed and deserve of a better treatment sounds ridiculous to me. You get the seat and the food and the drinks, yes, but a customer service agent shouldn’t behave different between any passengers, no matter what class of travel they have purchased
what bothers me is the attitude that a ‘rude’ agent is not acceptable in F specifically. So it’s ok in coach? Customer service is customer service and the assumption that F pax are somehow more anointed and deserve of a better treatment sounds ridiculous to me. You get the seat and the food and the drinks, yes, but a customer service agent shouldn’t behave different between any passengers, no matter what class of travel they have purchased
In Economy and WTP you are realistically aiming at “friendly”, given the very limited time for individual interactions. In Business especially on the JFK route people just want fast and efficient service, so I’d say “professional and competent” should be the aim, whereas First is meant to be either more of a special occasional or a customer with elevated needs, so I’d expect a bit more of a personal touch as well as a more formal approach. People paying lots of money for things apparently love a bit of being called by their surname and some slight bowing
Obviously none of this means that Economy should get bad service, but ideally you would have that differentiation in style.
Jul 2, 2019, 11:08 pm
#22
Join Date: Nov 2013
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I'm extremely curious as to your concept of "rude." What would have made the agent rude, hypothetically? Can you provide a few examples? Maybe the agent wasn't "rude," but do you think she behaved appropriately? Do you take no issue with eye-rolling in particular? I am genuinely curious.
Agents in both F and coach should be polite, but the F agent should be more personal and deferential on top of being polite. A key component of "personal" is making eye contact which OP explicitly said was absent from his interaction. As for deference -- if the luggage tag had to come off, the service-level appropriate words from the agent would have been, in a gentle delivery, "Sir, would you like me to remove this tag for you?"
Jul 3, 2019, 12:09 am
#23
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I'm extremely curious as to your concept of "rude." What would have made the agent rude, hypothetically? Can you provide a few examples? Maybe the agent wasn't "rude," but do you think she behaved appropriately? Do you take no issue with eye-rolling in particular? I am genuinely curious.
Agents in both F and coach should be polite, but the F agent should be more personal and deferential on top of being polite. A key component of "personal" is making eye contact which OP explicitly said was absent from his interaction. As for deference -- if the luggage tag had to come off, the service-level appropriate words from the agent would have been, in a gentle delivery, "Sir, would you like me to remove this tag for you?"
Agents in both F and coach should be polite, but the F agent should be more personal and deferential on top of being polite. A key component of "personal" is making eye contact which OP explicitly said was absent from his interaction. As for deference -- if the luggage tag had to come off, the service-level appropriate words from the agent would have been, in a gentle delivery, "Sir, would you like me to remove this tag for you?"
A simple "please" would have made the request to the OP less offensive to from my cultural background.
But so often as checking you are juggling. Passport, perhaps online checking BP, your carry on baggage, and your hold baggage, and if in First that may be multiple items, I have some sympathy with the OP, you may not have thought of everything, and if you are worrying about old baggage tags then the agents are trying to get your passport from you.
Jul 3, 2019, 12:26 am
#24
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I think the attitude of BAs JFK staff has deteorated remarkably in the past years. CCR staff remains great and my one substantive interaction of needing seat help at the J lounge (CCR hiatus/F lounge closed) was quite positive after a disastrous experience at check in.
Jul 3, 2019, 12:29 am
#25
Join Date: Jun 2013
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I think everybody whether they live in a city famed for it's abrupt service or not can self moderate depending on the type of position they work in. This person worked at check-in for an airline's First class product - they should have known better. Taking a bag tag off, whilst on the face of it might not be the check-in agent's responsibility would have taken them a couple of seconds. This would have left the customer with a better impression. They could even have said, "Let me take those old tags off for you, (Sir/Madam)." It would have made a thing of it - like they were going above and beyond which is kind of the point when you pay for a premium product.
I grew up in Japan where politeness and service are ingrained into culture. Can you ever imagine a situation like the OP described happening there? I don't think we should lower our expectations for First class service just because we're dealing with New Yorkers. It might be acceptable for them to be abrupt when using the subway or paying for their groceries but that's not what was going on here. They were at work and they were working at a First class check-in desk. They should be the ones raising their standards.
I grew up in Japan where politeness and service are ingrained into culture. Can you ever imagine a situation like the OP described happening there? I don't think we should lower our expectations for First class service just because we're dealing with New Yorkers. It might be acceptable for them to be abrupt when using the subway or paying for their groceries but that's not what was going on here. They were at work and they were working at a First class check-in desk. They should be the ones raising their standards.
Jul 3, 2019, 1:08 am
#26
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one of my pet hates. Happened to me at Doha, I was approaching the Priority Channel and a woman barked at me economy that way, I ignored her instruction and just approached her and gave my J class BP and just smiled, she just looked sheepish . Also had similar a Manchester approaching the fast track channel
Jul 3, 2019, 1:09 am
#27
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I tend to temper my expectations in the NYC area when it comes to standards of politeness and customer service. I’ve encountered some rude employees at JFK that are much worse than what the OP described. It’s often unpleasant but it seems like what one should expect in NYC.
Jul 3, 2019, 1:14 am
#28
Join Date: Jun 2013
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I think most of us would accept that, "you need to take that label off" could have simply been phrased, "Please could you remove that label from your bag?" and would have elicited a much more positive response from the passenger with the same end result. Manners matter.
Jul 3, 2019, 1:47 am
#29
Join Date: Nov 2013
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I love this. It demolishes the arguments that NYC rudeness is excusable because it's "direct" or that politeness takes too much time.
Jul 3, 2019, 1:53 am
#30
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The vast majority of people, when confronted by somebody blocking their path, learn that the polite way is "excuse me." Not "GTFO." But hey, my path was blocked, so it's totally fine to tell them GTFO, right?
Let's not forget there is zero evidence OP was snobby. You are ascribing the worst possible interpretation to OP's words. Bad faith.