Does NW keep a "frequent complainer" list?
 

The reason I ask being:

My partner and I have travelled DCA-YVR four times this summer, all four times resulting in delays of 6-24 hours. Clearly, unacceptable.

When I e-mailed NW, I got a nice "thanks for the feedback, we hope you continue to fly NW" e-mail.

When I sent the identical e-mail from the other account (both platinum) they posted 19,000 miles as an apology.

I'm guessing that I'm on some sort of NW frequent whiner list, lol. Probably due to the J class ticked to CPT I got refunded 5 years ago AFTER the trip. Most likely some sort of "we did this guy a big favour, but never again."

Any similar experiences?

Yes, they do... as do most companies.

"Wolf, wolf..."

(and I agree that an unusually high number of complaints may be justified...)

I figured as much, and agree with you that it's justified. Odd one is, I found myself on the list after just one "complaint." Must have been the type of complaint :rolleyes:

I'd venture a guess that:
1. Type of complaint
2. Tone of complaint
3. WP status
4. Price/class of ticket
Etc.

All play a role in how that list is constructed.

I've made three complaints lately - all of them were justified in my opinion. Other than that I've never made a complaint in all of my flying with them - I'm usually pretty happy - just not lately.

The first one, I got a sorry you don't like our new standby policy (which I don't because it's impossible to standby for later flights unless you do it at the airport) but we think it's a great thing.

The other two, I heard nothing - one was a combo on the half baked upgrade they did on a sold out flight which caused completed chaos and a late pushback and what the GA made the poor flight attendent go through because they had an empty seat in F and didn't upgrade anyone into it (although the FA made a comment on how many plats were still in coach). The second was about what's up with the elite preboarding in DTW - why do they cancel it all the time due to large numbers but on my return flight they manage to let us preboard even when there are the same large number of elites?

Wonder if you send a lot of "gee you guys are great" comments, you can get off the complaint list?

This is what I'm wondering. I work in the call center industry and I know that we can tell how often a custmer calls and thier history. I have always assumed that the service industry keeps these complaint lists. Does anyone know if they keep compliment/champion lists? For my own piece of mind, I always write two compliment letters to every complaint letter. It is always easier to find something negative but just as easy to find the good stuff too, we just have to keep it in mind.

No, I think it's your e-mail addresss...
 

I think they're solely tracking you based on your e-mail address, not by how much you complain (per se).

As long as you're a high paying customer no company in their right mind would penalize you for complaining.

I think you saw a different response (in the form of bonus miles) because you used another e-mail address. It is easy to track responses by e-mail address and their computers probably know that you've already received complaint bonus miles on your original e-mail address.

I highly doubt it - it's most likely by Worldperks account.

That said, I've sent lots of e-mails praising great employees when I run into them. I suspect once you're on this list you stay on it. As far as high fares, I don't think that matters either. Plenty of Y, Z, etc here.

I have seen this brought a few times in our company publications. Supposedly, NW tracks who sends complaints and deals accordingly. For example, if you constantly complain about little things and then have a major problems they will still take your problem seriously. If you are just a constant complainer, they will continue to send you a "thanks, hope you fly us again" letter.

There was time (and I suppose it still exists today) when pax were complaining in an effort to get miles or something for free even when the employee was not at fault.

I think there was thread on this forum about this. Someone that posts here was labeled a constant complainer by NW and they posted the correspondence.

The record is probably tied to your WP#.

I also work at a call center and while we don't keep an explicit 'list' of complainers, we do keep notes in their accounts.

ironmanjt, lets be real for a second, the delays are already in the past, aside from throwing miles at you, what can you realistically expect them to do?

Fair question. When 4 of 4 of my last DCA-YVR flights have been over 6 hours late, I expect them to at least make some show of apology. A form letter doesn't qualify. Honestly, even a nicely written 1-paragraph e-mail would go a long way.

Or how about an explanation about why this seems to be happening frequently and what steps they are taking to resolve the situation... in lieu of miles, that's something that I would want to see...

Well, when I do send a complaint, I do try to compliment NW on something as well. For example, I am very upset that my flight to XXX was 48 hours late, the FA's were extraordinarily rude, and the GA's let the flight leave with 6 empty First class seats, but I appreciate the kiosks at the ticket counter because they really reduce the lines and make the check-in process more efficient (unsaid: so I don't have to interact with your rude TAs). ;)

I think you can pay for a confirmed seat on a later flight same day as original flight; didn't NW institute a $25 fee for something like this? Perhaps you don't want to pay, but the only way I'd risk not taking my scheduled earlier flight is if I had a guaranteed seat on a later flight (unless I knew there were at least 2 flights that were less than 80% full) - otherwise, you may get stuck paying a much higher price to get home.

I agree with you as well. Thing is, either the NW rep isn't lookin into your account (to see your flight history/status level) or doesn't care.. truth is it's probably a combo of both.

Even if you keep cutting and pasting a letter, i'd make it detailed as possible if you're not already doing that, flight #s, status level, why you fly NW as opposed to any other airline, were you properly informed by the GAs etc. Explain that in lieu of flying, say, AC, through YYZ or UA/AA through ORD why you'll continue flying etc. That may open someone's eye.

If they send back a form letter, that's pretty poor IMO. I do customer service and would pay more attention to an email that has detailed information as opposed to something that says "WHY WAS MY FLIGHT DELAYED? I FLEW FROM DTW-SAN JULY 17!?!?!" with no other info. That's a whine in my book - a complaint from a valued customer is detailed as to when, why and how deserves some attention.