If there is one thing I hate more than anything it is poor service. I sit here this morning reflecting on yesterday's experiences with our flight home and I remain slightly disappointed with United Airlines. We had a mix of some great and just plain poor customer service.
I accept that things can (and often will) go wrong when you fly. It is bound to happen and with my bad travel luck, it tends to happen more than I would like (or appreciate). However, it is how an airline handles a bad situation that separates a great company from a good company. Yesterday, United Airlines could have shined and been that great company, but in the end (my opinion) they were only good and actually just mediocre.
Our United Airlines flight #296 from Denver to Tampa was delayed from a 3:22 PM departure to a 4:40 PM departure due to weather. We waited on our inbound plane to arrive from Washington, D.C. It was delayed due to Tropical Depression Debbie, who socked it to Florida with a day of high winds and non-stop rain.
Let me mention that naming a tropical storm Debbie seems odd. Debbie feels like a too casual or friendly of a name for a tropical storm. Debbie is your friend or a funny co-worker, not a tropical storm. I am not sure why but every time someone said Tropical Depression Debbie I pictured Debbie Reynolds in my head. However, it was more like Debbie Downer from Saturday Night Live I guess as she was not happy and sunny like Debbie Reynolds is on TV. All we needed was the wah wah horn like they do with Debbie Downer on Saturday Night Live in the background to make the day complete.
Okay...sorry about the Debbie Reynolds and Debbie Downer tangent.
The flight delay was in no way United Airlines fault as they cannot control the weather and I would rather see them delay a flight than fly in unsafe weather conditions. The delay was not horrible and the United Airlines gate agent assigned to Gate 46 was excellent. She did a great job of communicating status updates and keeping passengers informed of how it impacted those with connections in Denver. Once the plane arrived, she even stayed past her scheduled shift to make sure the plane was boarded quickly. She did an stellar job in a difficult situation. My hat goes off to her for her hard work and dedication.
We boarded our plane and I was impressed in how quickly everyone got in their seats. I fly often for business and it was the fastest and most efficient boarding I have ever witnessed, which is especially surprising since we were flying from Orlando on a flight full of kids.
Sadly a quick and efficient boarding could not help us when maintenance workers appeared in the cockpit. The Captain announced they were having computer issues and they were trying to resolve. After about 30 minutes the Captain announced they were unable to fix the issue and were going to restart the plane to reboot the computers. We all know rebooting is usually our last resort at home with our own computers and you could hear the collective sigh on the plane.
As you would guess, it did not work and 30 minutes later we were being asked to exit the plane. It was 5:30 PM and the only remaining Denver flight at 6:30 PM was full. A flight earlier in the day to Denver was canceled, so that did not help. You could feel a lot of tension in the gate area especially for those large families traveling. It is never easy when you have a gate full of passengers sitting and just waiting to hear if their flight will have 1) the plane fixed, 2) get a new plane, or 3) be canceled.
After about 45 minutes we were told by our new gate agent that our flight was canceled and they were scheduling the full flight into a new plane the next morning at 9:00 AM. This was good news of sorts as the next direct flight was at 10:40 AM and was fairly full. Everyone was instructed to head to baggage carousel #25 to pick up our bags and then go to the ticketing counter to pick up food and hotel vouchers. Since Dale and I did not check bags we headed directly to ticketing.
It was in the food and hotel voucher distribution where United Airlines fell down and failed in their customer service. First, was I appreciative they were giving food and hotel vouchers? Yes, of course - but I expected this since it was a mechanical issue and that is standard. What I expected when Dale and I reached the counter was an apology or at least some sympathy for the flight cancelation. We received neither. We were very friendly and nice, but the gentleman at the ticketing counter was less than friendly. He seemed more annoyed than we were after finding out we were not going home. Again, I can accept things go wrong and never fault the employees. A counter agent cannot control plane failures, but they do represent United Airlines and should be 1) courteous, 2) sympathetic, 3) helpful, and 4) apologetic.
The counter agent gave us food vouchers for dinner. Dale mentioned the gate agent had said there would be vouchers for dinner and breakfast and kindly asked if that was not the case. The ticketing agent never answered or acknowledged Dale, but instead printed two additional vouchers. Is it that difficult to communicate and answer someone? Apparently, yes.
The counter agent then printed our hotel voucher for the Renaissance Marriott and told us where to catch the shuttle. We asked if the food vouchers were just good at the airport or the hotel too. The counter agent responded by saying sometimes yes, sometimes no and that it depends on the hotel. Of course our next question was whether the vouchers worked at the Renaissance Marriott. His answer was that he had no idea and he said we should just eat at the airport if we were hungry.
This is not a good way to treat customers who are already stressed due to a delay and being sent to an unfamiliar hotel they did not select. These agents need to try to better relate to their passengers. How would they feel after being in the airport for hours of delays and the eventual cancellation of a flight? We planned to be heading home. We now had to figure out things like changing work meetings and care for our dogs, but other people probably had a much larger list of calls and plans to make.
These counter agents should be equipped with information to provide a better experience for customers. The airports use the same hotels - why not create a one sheeter about the hotel you are being assigned? Do they have a restaurant? When does it normally stop serving? Do they accept food vouchers? When does their shuttle service run daily and how often does it run in the morning?
Everyone standing at the counter had these same questions, yet all you heard across the counter were the I have no idea responses. We asked if they needed new boarding passes for the morning. We were told probably not but they were unsure. They could not print new ones so they assumed TSA would be notified to accept the old ones even though the date would be wrong, but nobody really knew if this would be the case or not.
Even this morning when we got to the airport our flight was not listed on the monitors so we had to go ask at the counter what gate to proceed to. We were told it was a ghost flight so it is not on the monitors and they could not add it as if we should know or expect this. United Airlines needs to remember that air travel is not our industry and the general public will not know these things. It is these little annoyances that add up.
To me United Airlines counter agents need to be put in a passenger's shoes. With an hour left on their shifts tell all the counter agents that instead of going home after work as expected they are being sent to a hotel for the night. What do they want to know? What questions do they have? I bet they would have quite a few and be bothered with a response of I have no idea.
To me, the real hero last night was the Renaissance Marriott by the Orlando Airport. They provided stellar service that United Airlines could have provided. Oddly, they also provided the apology that United Airlines never gave. When we boarded the shuttle, the driver said he was sorry that everyone was not heading home as they expected but he would get us to the hotel quickly and safely, as he was sure everyone was tired.
The woman at the front desk immediately apologized when she saw our hotel voucher that our flight was canceled and asked what happened. She apologized we were not making it home and said treated us with kindness and compassion. She explained when the hotel restaurant/bar closed and when breakfast would start the next morning without us even having to ask. She asked what time we had our flight the next day and gave a recommendation of what time to meet for the hotel shuttle. I assume these are the common questions from customers with hotel vouchers, so rather than wait to be asked, she gave great service and was proactive. Way to go to the Renaissance Marriott for making a guess feel valued and appreciated.
I fly often from work and have Premier status with United Airlines. I have a lot of options when flying but have always been loyal to United Airlines. Yesterday was an opportunity for United Airlines to show itself as a great company but sadly even though the gate agent was stellar it could not make up for the less than helpful counter agent, who really did not seem to care. It was disappointing to see. In an industry with little that distinguishes their product it will always be service that allows an airline to shine.
