An Amazing Story of Employee Disengagement

I heard a story from someone the other day that was so amazing that it had to be repeated in this blog. The woman I was talking to had a friend whose husband travels a lot. He was on a US Airways flight. The flight was delayed and an announcement said that the flight crew was in a major traffic tie-up on the expressway to the airport. This gentleman decided to go on-line using his smart phone and see what information was on the local traffic reports. He found out that there were no traffic delays reported. The airline had announced incorrect information instead of telling customers the real story.

When this fellow arrived at his destination, he called US Airways to complain about what had happened. Now the story gets amazing... The response from customer service? "What do you expect from US Air"? The airline's own customer service was telling the man that he should not expect anything less than poor quality from the airline.

This is a story that anyone who flies, or is unlucky enough to fly US Airways, can understand. This is a miserable excuse for an airline. It has long ago given up any pretense to caring for its passengers. There are other airlines like that as well. I would put United as a close competitor to US Airways in the worst airline competition. It would be a tight race between these two giants.

I remember when USAir started an advertising campaign called "US Air Begins with You". It was an attempt to build customer relationships. It didn't last long. There was nothing behind it. Just fluff. When I heard it, I joked that it must mean that USAir begins with the letter "U", and that it was a play on words. Too bad they didn't use that campaign to transform their company.

What does this story really say about US Airways. Not only has it given up on its customers, but it also has given up with its own employees who are the face of the airline to its customers. One would think that they would want their front-line employees to be armed with rationale for every inconvenience. Yet, most of the airline employees have sided with the passengers. To paraphrase Bill Clinton.. they can feel our pain.

Note to companies. This is a miserable way to make a living. Stop doing what you obviously hate doing. Why be in business if you seem to hate it so much? The airlines have not made money in years. Why are they still putting us through hell? There are airlines that know how to run themselves and build customer loyalty. e.g, Southwest, British Air, Singapore, Porter, JetBlue. I sometimes think that making passengers unhappy is the only thing US Air, United and many of the other US carriers know how to do well.