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Startup Lessons, Courtesy of United Airlines’ Crappy Customer Service

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

#21

Post by InnocentB »

stanleydrew wrote: post #10
zacharycohn wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He wasn't complaining about having to wait 4 hours. He was complaining about the lack of respect they have for customers (not specifically him, but in general), and he was comparing his experience between Virgin and United. With one, he was surprised by an unfortunate, not-well-known policy and OFFERED NO HELP, versus the other where they went above and beyond what he expected from them (sell him a ticket to get home…

Since when is selling you a ticket "above and beyond" expectations for an airline?

I think the parent is indicating that selling you a ticket is the expectation, and that Virgin went above and beyond that baseline.

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

#22

Post by stanleydrew »

swombat wrote: post #13
ghshephard wrote: post #5

I stopped reading here: "I ended up skipping my the flight from SFO to LAX because a friend of mine was driving down the night before; I figured I would keep him company on the drive, and I would get to spend an extra night in LA." In my experience, that basically canceled his set of flights ,and he was no longer a customer. That's been my experience for at least 10 years of flying. I didn't read the rest of the arti…

If he was no longer a customer, I assume they refunded his money? If they did not refund his money, he was still a customer - a customer who was denied his product, certainly, but a customer nonetheless. If you buy my product, and I don't deliver it to you for reason X, that doesn't mean you're not my customer. It just means I suck at delivering my product.

What if I choose not to pick up the product at the time we agreed upon without notifying you, causing you to make decisions about inventory and perhaps selling the product to someone else, and then return to you demanding the product at a later date?

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

#23

Post by ceejayoz »

swombat wrote: post #13
ghshephard wrote: post #5

I stopped reading here: "I ended up skipping my the flight from SFO to LAX because a friend of mine was driving down the night before; I figured I would keep him company on the drive, and I would get to spend an extra night in LA." In my experience, that basically canceled his set of flights ,and he was no longer a customer. That's been my experience for at least 10 years of flying. I didn't read the rest of the arti…

If he was no longer a customer, I assume they refunded his money? If they did not refund his money, he was still a customer - a customer who was denied his product, certainly, but a customer nonetheless. If you buy my product, and I don't deliver it to you for reason X, that doesn't mean you're not my customer. It just means I suck at delivering my product.

He bought a seat on the plane. That he didn't use it doesn't mean it wasn't still his seat. If I ran the airline, I'd give him a 50% refund for the return leg, but if he didn't notify me that he wouldn't be taking the first flight I may not have been able to offer that seat to another paying customer.

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

#24

Post by jasonlotito »

ghshephard wrote: post #5

I stopped reading here: "I ended up skipping my the flight from SFO to LAX because a friend of mine was driving down the night before; I figured I would keep him company on the drive, and I would get to spend an extra night in LA." In my experience, that basically canceled his set of flights ,and he was no longer a customer. That's been my experience for at least 10 years of flying. I didn't read the rest of the arti…

> In my experience, that basically canceled his set of flights ,and he was no longer a customer. That's been my experience for at least 10 years of flying.

That's not how it works. If you pay for something you do not receive, it doesn't cease making you a customer. Now, maybe for the past 10 years you've been paying for things you don't get. In that case, I hate to tell you buddy, but you've been scammed.

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

#25

Post by arethuza »

Why not send an email/text to you saying that they noticed that he missed the first part of the flight and:

1) Is he OK?

2) Does he still want to use the second leg of the flight (and maybe check in now)? With the default being that he will want to use it?

With a simple bit of communication, that could have been completely automated, they managed to annoy a paying customer.

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

#26

Post by stanleydrew »

jmtame wrote: post #11
ghshephard wrote: post #5

I stopped reading here: "I ended up skipping my the flight from SFO to LAX because a friend of mine was driving down the night before; I figured I would keep him company on the drive, and I would get to spend an extra night in LA." In my experience, that basically canceled his set of flights ,and he was no longer a customer. That's been my experience for at least 10 years of flying. I didn't read the rest of the arti…

why would an airline cancel your flight if you skip part of it? didn't you outright buy the tickets in the first place?

Because there is a very high correlation between missing the first leg and missing the second leg perhaps?

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

#28

Post by rayval »

far33d wrote: post #8

It's easy to chalk this up to whining and ignore it since it comes off as a rant. The problem is that United and its employees don't consider service a priority, not that they have a policy about canceling flights when you skip the original leg. I've had this experience multiple times with United and have found them to be the worst offender of all the legacy airlines. They are a mess and they are outright hostile to…

I agree. I went through a similar experience with United several years ago, and I will never fly them again unless the choice is walking.

As the article points out, there are structural problems with their pricing, their policies (and how they communicate them), and most importantly their customer service culture (or lack thereof).

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

#29

Post by joelhaasnoot »

alec wrote: post #12

"after all, how much can you actually save by [skipping a flight]"? Many airlines have complicated pricing models that attempt to capture market demand. For example, I just looked up flights from Portland, ME to Los Angeles, departing on Jan 19 and returning Jan 26. If you take US and connect through Philadelphia, the cheapest price is $309. If you were to fly from Philadelphia to Los Angeles non-stop on that same da…

Flying internationally just amplifies this: was looking for tickets during the Christmas season and it was 50% cheaper to fly Brussels - Amsterdam - Kampala than Amsterdam - Kampala.

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

#30

Post by jasonlotito »

stanleydrew wrote: post #22
swombat wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If he was no longer a customer, I assume they refunded his money? If they did not refund his money, he was still a customer - a customer who was denied his product, certainly, but a customer nonetheless. If you buy my product, and I don't deliver it to you for reason X, that doesn't mean you're not my customer. It just means I suck at delivering my product.

What if I choose not to pick up the product at the time we agreed upon without notifying you, causing you to make decisions about inventory and perhaps selling the product to someone else, and then return to you demanding the product at a later date?

Poor example. Implies you being forced to do things you would otherwise not have to do, which wasn't in the original example.

Better would be: If you rented me an apartment and I didn't move in right away. It would be unfair for me to demand a refund for the time I didn't move in, but it would also be unfair for you to rent the apartment to someone else if I already paid you for it.

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