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Customer service is a result of two major factors: people and systems. The system is almost as important as the people. A good system allows good people to do their best for the customer. If the system is flawed, even people who have great attitudes and have been properly trained will struggle to consistently make their customers happy.
There is a hotel that I frequent several times a year. I can’t stand the check-in process. It is ever so slow, and as a result, there is almost always a line. Even though the people are as friendly as can be, their system mars the experience. Contrast that with a hotel that has a quick check-in process, including a self-service check-in option, as well as super-friendly people. The experience is always better.
Another industry recently suffered a major service debacle that made headlines in major newspapers in North America, as well as around the world. In the span of less than a month, two major U.S. airlines had system failures that resulted in thousands of flights being canceled or delayed, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers either stranded, or at the very least, terribly inconvenienced. The delays the passengers experienced were not just a few minutes or an hour. It was a dramatic disruption. The passengers missed meetings, vacations, weddings and funerals.
It is important to note that while a glitch like this may happen every so often, cancelations and delays are an ongoing problem, even without a system breakdown. The average on-time performance in the airline industry typically hovers just over 80 percent. That means nearly one out of five flights is late or doesn’t take off at all. Causes could be the weather, mechanical delays, air-traffic control and people.
According to statistics found on the government’s website, year-to-date on-time performance from January 1 through May 31 is at 82.7%. That means about 17 out of every 100 flights were delayed or canceled. Weather was responsible for .46%, or just under one-half of one percent. And, 1.3% of flights were canceled.
These numbers do not include the thousands of canceled and delayed flights that took place during the service and system failures in July and August.
Most people can understand a plane being grounded because of a snowstorm. And, most would agree that it is better to discover a mechanical problem when the plane is still on the ground rather than in the air. However, while some problems are out of the airline’s control, people are much less tolerant about issues that are caused by mismanagement.
I was recently on a plane that landed very late. We pulled into the gate at 1 a.m., and there were no airline personnel available to usher the plane into its parking spot and pull the jet bridge to the plane. Now, this is a flight that lands at this airport every night. We were late, but that didn’t mean we weren’t going to show up. We sat for 20 minutes before someone finally came to the plane. Twenty minutes might not seem too bad, but it was on top of a 90-minute delay. People were tired and rightfully upset. And, what’s the reason the ground crew didn’t know we had landed? The airline didn’t have an explanation. At least not one that was reasonable.
