Tuesday, August 25, 2009





3. The flight/boat/train is on time.










Agent 1 - "OK"



Lie 2 care of Hilton "The hotel is fully booked"






Me - "do I have to change rooms?"

Front Desk - "no, that's fine...you can stay where you are"





Me - "Is this flight on time?"

Virgin Express - "Yes sir, right on time."





Me - "great. Thanks. I'll make it."


Why does the industry do it



  • "the hotel is right by the beach";
  • "your flight is boarding now".

thanks to La Tête Krançien's at Flickr for the photo


Anonymous said...

I have had exactly he same experience with Qantas on many occasions.

In an earlier job, I always flew on Qantas restricted fares, and whenever I needed to have a flight moved, I would just go from one Qantas desk to the next until someone agreed to change my flight. Usually, there was no need to ask at more than two desks. But it was always amusing to see the complete disconnect between the consoling statements of impossibility, and the smiling can-do attitude of those who helped me.

Matthew Teller said...

Interesting post - thank you! The hotel example is unforgiveable, I agree, but my take on the airline cases is simply that 'front-end' customer service staff both on the ground and in the air are so hard-pressed, and have to cope so often with aggression or unpleasantness from passengers, that they have simply developed coping mechanisms which are designed to shut down any challenges. The initial shut-outs that you experienced were the verbal equivalent of dimming the lights and closing all the window blinds (even on a daytime flight), or offering (modest amounts of) alcohol inflight - the aim is to do anything and everything to keep the passengers passive and docile.

And, to be honest, who can argue with them? Yes, it was a lie - but airline systems are so impossibly byzantine that if they took the time to explain all the intricacies to everyone who rolled up asking for special treatment it would take all day. So they shut out every enquiry as best they can, until the point is reached at which it is in their (or their company's) interest to make an exception - whereupon an exception is made.

Fine by me. You didn't really expect them to say "well, no, the flight is delayed 90 minutes so far, sir, so feel free to turn up at the airport whenever you like - I'm sure that'll be fine" - did you? ;-)

Tim Hughes said...

@Anon - great tip. Thanks

@Matthew T - You are absolutely right that the staff at airlines are feeling beat up. Staff in almost all US carriers, BA and QF are openly hostile when discussing management and the company infront of customers. Money and time needs to be spent on changing that.

Sam Clark said...

I have to say I think you should give the front desk staff a bit of a break. Anyone in any industry who has been in taht position, will tend to blame the system. I tend to think that is human nature - not to want to be disliked, rather than a fault endemic to the travel industry. And they did you a big favour, through someone using their brain too!

Tim Hughes said...

@Sam C - I absolutely hold the companies more responsible than the staff. Travel companies have to change their scripts and training to stress telling the truth over hiding behind easy outs. I do not give the staff a free pass though because they are over worked and stressed. There are ways to give me the same message without having to catch yourself in a lie.

Mel K. said...

Agree with previous comments re: the source of these lies is discomfort with dealing with customers (in some cases, well-founded given the aggressiveness I'm sure these staff deal with).

I wonder how much these responses come from informal conditioning (e.g., tips from experience co-workers) vs. training from the company. And whether the companies are aware of the effect these lies have on customers: for me, deep distrust of the company. Either way, companies should make a concerted effort to train their front-line staff properly (so they have more confidence in dealing with difficult/ambiguous situations) and setting up policies under clearer principles about how customers should be treated (which should be backed up by more flexibility into the systems etc.). I'm sure that a root cause of these problems in many companies is that, at heart, the company has set itself up to maximize revenue - not to fulfill a customer need. So, you get: complicated pricing policies, rigid systems, nonsensical rules, etc. And staff that are trained in those systems and rules and - as noted - are placed in a difficult position of choosing whether to break rules, lie, etc.

Tim Hughes said...

@Mel K - absolutely agree. It becomes part of the culture rather than a formal training program. I do think there are script (ie training) elements but culturally it comes from no measuring staff on customer satisfaction.

BTW - am missing poker. When can we play again (assuming you are the Mel K that I think you are)

Anonymous said...

I am running around the USA selling our Pots and pans.

It i so funny that i check my bag in and yet i have to pay $5 per bag even thought i have 20Kg allowance.

I went over the weight limit by 5lbs and guess what i had to pay US$50 or take it on as hand carry on.

So i asked the girl, what diff does it make im still taking the weight on board,

she called for her boss and said i was being an ass and to talk to me about the complaint.

Apathy and attitude is no place for the service industry

Stephen Joyce said...

Great post Tim. I think this is an issue with many service based industry, not only travel. The fundamental problem, in my opinion, is a lack of trust for employees within an organization and a focus on punishment rather than reward in dealing with customer issues. By default, most organizations, especially larger ones tend to focus on the punishments associated with breaking the rules, rather than the rewards for satisfying customer complaints or issues. If employees are entrusted with the responsibility of doing whatever they can to help customers be happy, rather than focusing on squeezing every last penny out of them, then the culture would shift away from customer commoditization to customer satisfaction.

As you said, this is definitely a corporate cultural issue that needs to be addressed from the top down. Take a look at the culture at WestJet or Southwest and you can see that a customer centric corporate culture can work and be profitable.

mochilero said...

One of my favourites is "The hotel is full booked" in booking websites, but not when you call or mail them.

Tim Hughes said...

@Stephen J - agreed. The secret to changing the culture is to 1) hire people that are into customer care and 2) measure, track and reward good customer feedback

tlukec said...

I've ALWAYS said "If you don't ask - you don't get". I've often found with restricted fares, late check outs etc, as long as you approach with the attitude that any change/extension is a favour not a right, you'll do OK. Otherwise, one more drink wont hurt while you wait :)