I\’m in Las Vegas for Affiliate Summit and am looking forward to the a few days of networking and learning.
And while I have nothing to say about the conference yet because it hasn\’t started yet, I do have an experience to share with you.
As you know, I enjoy blogging about my customer service experiences… especially the bad experiences.
Why do I do this?
I place a very high value on customer service and am generally irked when policies or overzealous employees get in the way of the company\’s true reason for being… the customer.
Today I had an unusual encounter with a United Airlines representative.
I was scheduled to depart from Denver to Las Vegas around 3:30 pm. My associates and I boarded the plane without incident, and I was fortunate enough to have received a first class upgrade.
Ah… comfort.
The plane was loaded, the pilots were in the cockpit and the luggage was on board. All we needed now was to depart.
But for some reason, we weren\’t going any where.
Finally, I asked the flight attendant what was up. She sighed and told me she had never encountered anything like this in eighteen years.
As it turned out, there was another flight to Miami that had no pilot.
So they took our pilot and cancelled our flight, rebooking us on a flight that was to depart approximately one hour later.
Fine. No problem.
We got off the plane and head to the gate where the next flight was to depart.
Since we were in the front of the plane, we were among to first to arrive at the other gate for rebooking.
The nice lady at the counter assured the rapidly growing line of irritated customers that they had room for everyone on this next flight.
You could tell she was trying to squelch a revolt before it took place by being over accomodating.
Great.
So we got rebooked on the flight, but since it was a Ted flight, there were no first class seats.
I asked the representative to at least get us in the Economy Plus section where there is just a bit more room.
No problem. She takes care of us.
So you are wondering where the customer service issue is going to take place?
Here it comes…
The United representative at the gate calls for Seating 1 passengers to board the plane.
If you have ever flown United, you may know that they have two different entry points to the gate.
There is a \”red carpet\” for First Class and Executive Premier passengers and there is a \”blue carpet\” for everyone else.
As we approached the gate, there was absolutely no one else getting on board with Seating 1 assignment. So knowing that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, we walked on the red carpet to hand our tickets to the attendant and board the plane.
Are you ready for this?
She stared at me and told me in no uncertain terms that I should go back and use the blue carpet.
I said, \”but there is no one here!\”
She replies, \”There is NO first class on this flight.\”
I couldn\’t believe what I was hearing. Was she serious?
She took my tickets and asked if I was traveling with my associate. She needed to make sure because his ticket had Seating 3 on it. Heaven forbid he get on the plane early.
I assured her that he was with me and she gave us a stern warning as we boarded the plane…
\”Next time use the BLUE carpet.\”
Oh. My. Goodness.
We laughed so hard as we boarded the plane, not believing that this woman was actually treating me in this way!
I didn\’t get her name and I might not post it if I did.
She shall be known as \”Stupid United Employee\”, or SUE as it would be if it were an acronym. -)
Honesly, can someone explain to me the wisdom or benefit of scolding a regular customer for stepping on the red carpet to get on the plane when there is no one else in line?
Is there any possible sane reason for this kind of behavior?
I didn\’t even mention that fact that I HAD a first class seat on the flight that was cancelled because United decided to seize our pilot for another flight!
As Rush Limbaugh would say, I had an enounter with a \”glittering jewel of colossal ignorance\”.
Hey United, here\’s what I think of your red carpet…
Pffft.
And the execs at United wonder why Jet Blue and Southwest Airlines are gaining ground while they themselves are sinking quickly.
This shining gem of wonderful customer service has been brough to you by the not-so-friendly skies, your friends at United Airlines.