Lumo recognition, freebies and soft perks
Jun 8, 18, 3:06 pm
#107
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 89
As usual, empty promises by Finnair. No BMW ride on tarmac
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
Jun 8, 18, 3:50 pm
#108
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: Stratosphere
Programs: AY Lumo, AF Platinum
Posts: 229
Originally Posted by sulkkis
As usual, empty promises by Finnair. No BMW ride on tarmac
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
Jun 8, 18, 3:59 pm
#109
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 89
Originally Posted by napapiiri
Please report this to Finnair. I think (hope) they would want to know their gate people are not following the proper hand luggage allowance for top tier customers.
-sulkkis
Jun 9, 18, 12:12 am
#110
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: KUO
Programs: HH Diam, AY Plat, IHG Plat, Visa Plat, PP Prest, BT Vip
Posts: 1,778
Originally Posted by sulkkis
As usual, empty promises by Finnair. No BMW ride on tarmac
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
Jun 9, 18, 12:30 am
#111
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: C2
Programs: AY Lumo, TK Elite Plus, BT VIP
Posts: 785
Originally Posted by sulkkis
As usual, empty promises by Finnair. No BMW ride on tarmac
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
Originally Posted by sulkkis
Did it allready. Let's see their response, but if it is a typical cash voucher compensation I will be extremely disappointed. It only means that they have not even discussed the incident with the person involved and case closed - nothing changes.
-sulkkis
I value Finnair for how they handle situations when some of their staff decides to play their own game of elite "treatment". It's then a choice of action on their side whether to kind of re-train the staff, or pay another compensation when it occurs again (May this be a good motivation to really do something about the complaint?). In the end, you at least get a good value voucher / enough points for an upgrade. I dare to say many airlines would just send you an automatic "We are sorry..." email, or - if lucky enough - give you some miles worth a keychain.
Jun 9, 18, 2:43 am
#112
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 89
Originally Posted by on22cz
To be honest, while I totally understand how disappointing it is to know they might just hand out a voucher and mark it as solved, what kind of better compensation would you like to see?
-sulkkis
Jun 9, 18, 3:23 am
#114
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: QR PC Platinum, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, SK EB silver, Nordic Choice Platinum, Liberokerho GOLD, SJ Black
Posts: 11,523
There is no way any complaint ever makes it beyond CS. The escalation you are looking for simply does not exist. You might get a senior staff or even a manager to reply wirh the excuse and a compensation offer. But that is it. This is Finnair, not a japanese or korean airline.
Jun 9, 18, 3:40 am
#115
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 89
Intuition, you may be right but then the purpose of the AY CS is only to settle down pissed off customers and not to prevent pissed off customers happening at first place. At least all other industries are going towards preventing damages to happen at first place rather than developing ways how to best recover from any incident.
I prefer to see continous improvement on overall performance of any airline I choose rather than collecting their vouchers which I will anyway forget to use before they will expire.
-sulkkis
I prefer to see continous improvement on overall performance of any airline I choose rather than collecting their vouchers which I will anyway forget to use before they will expire.
-sulkkis
Jun 9, 18, 6:10 am
#116
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2011
Location: MMX (CPH)
Programs: QR PC Platinum, AY+ Platinum, A3*G, SK EB silver, Nordic Choice Platinum, Liberokerho GOLD, SJ Black
Posts: 11,523
First of all, i completely agree with you. I've tried to provide feedback and expected a continous improvement over the years (soon my tenth year as platinum), but my cynical conclusion is that it is pointless.
First problem is that the comapny isn't set up for cross department cooperation. And CS is likely the least "cool" part of the company and has nothing on the rest. IMO, it is exactly like you say it shouldn't be - they are there to try to make pissed off customer slightly less pissed off. By the end of the day, no one thanks them for their work and no one cares about the result or takes any actions.
Secondly, Finnair is a numbers company. One pissed off tier member is still just one, and regardless of how unhappy he/she is, one pax does not even show up in any metric.
I've heard this in several discussions with staff, and I really understood it when I fought with them about the 9h delays of AY69. I couldn't understand why they cared so little about delaying 250 pax 9 hours, until I learned that is wasn't a one-off but a SOP. Operations did this on a regular basis, around twice a month, to handle any fault in the fleet. And it had been going on for years. The more people I spoke to the more I understand that nobody really cared about the passengers or the bad reputaion for the route, as long as the delays wasn't impacting the over-all delay number. As long as they stayed above 92% flights arrival on time (or what ever the target was), there wasn't any reason to take actions. Even one HKG flight a week delayed 9h did not show up in any metric.
This numbers game keeps repeating in other areas as well, and may very well come from AY hiring policy. They require masters degree or higher for almost all positions, so they tend to end up with staff that are very well educated on the theoretical side but without much experience.
We also know that staff does not fly. Even higher position staff fly very rarely, and when they do, they always fly on AY in business. 99% of the company staff knows very little about the product in IRL and very little about the needs and expectations of their customers. They know nothing about the competition.
Their only tool is surveys - which usually is directed to op-up passengers - and again it is a numbers game. If 90% is joyful, then no need for action.
So while I do hope you'll get another result than I get. These days I don't even give them any feedback at all, only when they tries to screw me over. And they also stopped playing the game - they don't compensate me, they just issue the boilerplate excuse and that's it. And I have accepted that and decided not to waste time and energy on a company that does not want to improve.
First problem is that the comapny isn't set up for cross department cooperation. And CS is likely the least "cool" part of the company and has nothing on the rest. IMO, it is exactly like you say it shouldn't be - they are there to try to make pissed off customer slightly less pissed off. By the end of the day, no one thanks them for their work and no one cares about the result or takes any actions.
Secondly, Finnair is a numbers company. One pissed off tier member is still just one, and regardless of how unhappy he/she is, one pax does not even show up in any metric.
I've heard this in several discussions with staff, and I really understood it when I fought with them about the 9h delays of AY69. I couldn't understand why they cared so little about delaying 250 pax 9 hours, until I learned that is wasn't a one-off but a SOP. Operations did this on a regular basis, around twice a month, to handle any fault in the fleet. And it had been going on for years. The more people I spoke to the more I understand that nobody really cared about the passengers or the bad reputaion for the route, as long as the delays wasn't impacting the over-all delay number. As long as they stayed above 92% flights arrival on time (or what ever the target was), there wasn't any reason to take actions. Even one HKG flight a week delayed 9h did not show up in any metric.
This numbers game keeps repeating in other areas as well, and may very well come from AY hiring policy. They require masters degree or higher for almost all positions, so they tend to end up with staff that are very well educated on the theoretical side but without much experience.
We also know that staff does not fly. Even higher position staff fly very rarely, and when they do, they always fly on AY in business. 99% of the company staff knows very little about the product in IRL and very little about the needs and expectations of their customers. They know nothing about the competition.
Their only tool is surveys - which usually is directed to op-up passengers - and again it is a numbers game. If 90% is joyful, then no need for action.
So while I do hope you'll get another result than I get. These days I don't even give them any feedback at all, only when they tries to screw me over. And they also stopped playing the game - they don't compensate me, they just issue the boilerplate excuse and that's it. And I have accepted that and decided not to waste time and energy on a company that does not want to improve.
Last edited by intuition; Jun 9, 18 at 6:17 am
Jun 9, 18, 6:42 am
#117
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: HEL
Programs: lots of shiny metal cards
Posts: 10,398
It was a real shocker when at the AY DO senior staff said they practically NEVER fly with competition. We continually (more or less) benchmark ourselves with the competition, analyzing their products, etc. How can AY senior staff have no clue what's going on at the top of THEIR game?
Jun 9, 18, 8:10 am
#119
Join Date: Jun 2017
Posts: 89
Intuition, thanx for a prompt reply!
Frankly speaking I think this whole BMW ride idea is crazy. Who wants to drive front or behind a bus for a few hundred meters? And everybody looking at you wondering who the hell is that guy? Most pax have no idea about this service so they will be confused. I want to try it once but most likely in future will choose the bus, if there is a change to do so.
The bigger problem is that they market this service and in real life it is not available. Just like wifi on their LH flights. Better not to market something what you cannot deliver.
-sulkkis
Frankly speaking I think this whole BMW ride idea is crazy. Who wants to drive front or behind a bus for a few hundred meters? And everybody looking at you wondering who the hell is that guy? Most pax have no idea about this service so they will be confused. I want to try it once but most likely in future will choose the bus, if there is a change to do so.
The bigger problem is that they market this service and in real life it is not available. Just like wifi on their LH flights. Better not to market something what you cannot deliver.
-sulkkis
Jun 9, 18, 8:12 am
#120
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: HEL
Programs: AY Platinum, AA, BA, SK, DL, NT, WB + hotels
Posts: 5,123
Originally Posted by sulkkis
As usual, empty promises by Finnair. No BMW ride on tarmac
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
And also a new frequent flyer recognizion by an id__t male boarding gate officer who refused my hand luggage to be taken into plane and requested it to be checked in at boarding gate. Only one item allowed, no exceptions he said. The same rule did not apply for all customers, he just didn't like my bag. My bag is an old style Rimowa 20X40X53 cm two wheelie weighing exactly 8 kg loaded and the other item is a small computer bag. He said he doesn't care what kind of "next to god frequent flyer card you have" but he has decided that the bag will need to be checked in.
Maybe time to consider switching back to SAS.
-sulkkis
If this is the case, then this particular employee was way out of line. And you talked to his supervisor to no avail?
I wonder what would have happened if you had simply refused. He would have denied you from boarding, and after that you would have been forced to escalate the matter to get rebooked to the next flight. In that process, someone may have become interested in why you didn't take the flight you were supposed to, especially if it was a nonrefundable ticket.
Absolutely outrageous behaviour.
