Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

blog.wepay.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 133 posts

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#111

Post by ams6110 »

rdl wrote: post #104
jcl wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you seem to know a bit about "airline hacking", I'm wondering... Would the OP have gotten away with it if he skipped the second leg instead of the first, in a case where the direct flight is more expensive than round-trip? Or do the airlines have a way to discourage that?

I burn return legs all the time, with no consequences. I believe in the 1970s if you did that too much, airlines would potentially blacklist you, but it really isn't a problem now. I've even had airline employees wink wink nudge nudge encourage purchasing a much cheaper r/t vs o/w when the price differential was huge.

Especially since, at least on popular flights, they will re-sell that seat to a standby customer.

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#113

Post by kemayo »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #69
edw519 wrote: post #60

...I certainly never take to using WePay’s corporate blog as a pulpit for my attacks. Then don't. Ever. Here's why: It's standard knowledge that your second leg will be canceled if you miss your first leg. It's been that way for 30 years. You have just demonstrated your inability to deal with a standard curve ball. No big deal. As individuals, we all run into that from time to time. You also complained about customer…

> It's standard knowledge that your second leg will be canceled if you miss your first leg. It's been that way for 30 years. Really? This is the first time I've ever heard this. > But your mistake was using your company blog, unintentionally transferring your ineptness to your company I think it makes WePay seem human. Furthermore, whether or not it's true, this blog post makes me feel like WePay is saying 'we value…

I agree with your view here. I've flown a reasonable amount, although not much in recent years, and I wouldn't have expected them to cancel my flight like that without contacting me in some way.

Likewise, this left me feeling somewhat positive about WePay. It was a rant about the ways they want to always help you, and how your problems are more important to them than "policy".

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#114

Post by Lewisham »

This is another great example of United treating it as if it is a privilege that you get to fly. They don't realize that you flying with them is their privilege. This is the difference shown at Virgin America.

A bunch of US airlines are just as bad. That tag line of "we know you have lots of choices, and we're pleased you chose us" shouldn't be empty words, it should govern the experience from end-to-end.

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#115

Post by mcculley »

There's a lot of comments on this post remarking that the guy who lost his flight just didn't understand how airlines work. This is indeed a mistake only the inexperienced would make.

But it really is a problem that the thing we buy from airlines is called a "ticket". This noun conjures up what you purchase for a bus or a train, a right to a seat on a segment, an anonymous token which should be transferable to somebody else. That is not what you get from an airline these days. You enter instead into a complicated agreement that only applies to you.

So I think it is fair to expect the inexperienced to be confused by this terminology.

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#116

Post by JimmyL »

jwegan wrote: post #6

I'm always astounded why so many companies seem more willing to lose a loyal repeat customer than take a small hit on the bottom line for a particular transaction. Companies like NewEgg, Costco, and Zappos have demonstrated how being willing to take a small hit on some transactions can engender a fanatical customer base, but it seems most companies still prefer to be penny wise and pound foolish.

Simple: by their standards, he's not a loyal repeat customer.

People who the airlines care about - and will move heaven and earth for - are their top-tier frequent flyers, guys who fly 100K+ miles per year. If someone picks up that many flights, it means they do most of their flights for business (very few people fly for pleasure that far), which means they're buying much higher-priced tickets than people who are traveling for pleasure, and are the ones whose presence makes a flight turn a profit.

An example: if you're Super-Elite on Air Canada (95 flights or 100K miles per year) you have guaranteed flight availability up to six hours before departure. What does that mean? If you want to fly on a flight that's fully sold out - any flight - and call AC more than six hours before take-off, they will kick someone (or two people, as you can bring your companion too) off the plane so that you can get on. You will also get different call-center numbers, access to more rewards flights, more upgrade certificates than you can possibly use, and free upgrades when you choose not to use a certificate.

Legacy carriers, for the most part, do treat their frequent/loyal customers quite well. It's just that when you have that many routes and that many flights "frequent" is a lot more than most people who aren't business travelers think it is.

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#117

Post by ryanwanger »

He's been flying his whole life and never knew this. Why? Because it had never happened to him before. Why? Because booking a round-trip ticket, then finding an alternate way to get to your destination, and still wanting to come back on the return flight is an edge case.

They should have sent him an email letting him know the return flight had been canceled, so he had more advanced warning. End of story.

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#118

Post by alec »

jcl wrote: post #103
rdl wrote: post #36

I'm curious if he's ever flown much before. Missing the first leg of a discount coach r/t canceling the entire reservation has been standard since at least 1980. Yes, their online systems should be better at explaining what happens once you've missed a flight, but fundamentally the web apps for airlines are dirty hacks layered on top of mainframe systems, and don't handle exceptions particularly well. Airline pricing…

Since you seem to know a bit about "airline hacking", I'm wondering... Would the OP have gotten away with it if he skipped the second leg instead of the first, in a case where the direct flight is more expensive than round-trip? Or do the airlines have a way to discourage that?

I hear that some carriers will penalize your frequent flier account if you skip the last portion of a journey.

Re: Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

#119

Post by megablast »

kingkilr wrote: post #31
gabrielroth wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This works differently for retail businesses than it does for airlines. If I'm looking to buy a pair of shoes online, I have multiple options that are all roughly the same price. But I always buy them from Zappo's because I know I'll get good customer service. When I buy a plane ticket, I have a specific route I need to fly on a particular date. I want the flight with the fewest stops. The price difference is often h…

I'm not sure, I've passed up moderate savings ($70 on a $400 flight or so) to go on an airline I prefered. Delta has been a PITA every time I've flown with them, where Southwest has been my airline of choice for over a decade, it's an easy decision to give my money to the people who don't cause pain for me every time.

Cool, most people aren't like you, and if they ever do end up like you, then we will have the situation improve. It does not matter what you do, or your friends do, until a lot of people do it.
Post reply on HN