Learning From the Airlines–What NOT to Do
By Art Sobczak on Jun 29, 2009 in Price and Value, Random Rants
On the way back from the US Open golf tournament, my three buddies and I needed to get our seat assignments at the airport gate.
It was a little commuter jet on Delta, which I don’t have status on, so they were not offering complimentary First Class. But they did advertise on the video board that we could pay to upgrade.
Given a rather fun and tiring weekend with the boys and feeling the effects of having seen a number of pubs in Manhattan, and the fact that none of us looked forward to cramming our legs under the Barbie-doll-sized seats in front of us, I persuaded the guys all to spend the extra cash to upgrade.
So I gave the gate agent my ticket to process the upgrade. Then he tells me that he can’t do it, since my ticket “was not eligible.”
What? A $330 one-way ticket was not eligible to upgrade?
That’s right, he said.
“How many First Class seats do you have available?”
“Eight,” he replied.
“Let me get this right. I want to give you $75 per guy, $300 total to buy four seats that will otherwise go empty, and you won’t let me do it?”
“The computer won’t let me do it,” he reluctantly replied.
I asked who was authorized to get us upgraded and he said to check with the flight attendant as we boarded.
So I did, explained the situation, and without dragging this story out longer than I have, she moved us into the empty First Class seats.
No charge.
Lessons here?
1. Are there any stupid policies at your company that you can influence, that affect a customer’s ability to do business with you when they clearly are trying to hand you money?
2.. Ask for what you want. They certainly were not going to OFFER to move us into First Class without us initiating the request.
3. Be persistent and find out who can make a decision if you get stalled by someone who can’t.
1 Comment(s)
By Tammy Fritz on Jul 13, 2009 | Reply
I had this same type of experience at a furniture store this weekend. There is a chain of furniture stores out here that is going out of business. They are liquidating everything. I purchased a dining room set at one store, but it only came with 4 chairs. I went into a different location looking for 2 more chairs to go with the set I had purchased. I drove 45 minutes to get there to buy these chairs. The salesman wouldn’t sell them to me.
“I’m sorry ma’am, we have to sell them in sets.”
“What?! Your store is closing, you need to get the inventory out of your store. I need 2 chairs. I will pay full price for them, not just the discounted price.”
“No, I’m sorry, we can only sell this furniture in the sets it’s displayed in.”
No wonder they are going out of business!