AirTran made mistakes and this was the consequence I had to suffer due to those mistakes - This is a letter to customer service and tweaked to send to each and every Executive at AirTran.
-------
AirTran Holdings, Inc.
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
or
Customer Relations
AirTran Airways,
Dept. TBL
1800 Phoenix Blvd.
Suite 104
Atlanta, GA 30349
Dear Ken, (He sent me this email after all my phone calls:
http://twitpic.com/mhpzv )
I am not sure of your background as it was not easily accessible online. However, having the title of Chief Risk Officer, I am sure you have handled various customer feedback about experiences with your services/products. I am doing just that. I am writing to inform you of the most horrific traveling experience I have ever experienced from an airline.
Some background on myself: I have a degree in Marketing as well as 10 years of experience with Customer Service - I am actually a SouthWest committed customer because they are friendly, have great customer service and low cost air fares. I used to fly AirTran in early 2000-2004 and once in 2007. Other than that, I went SouthWest. Just to give you an idea, I fly at least 7 times a year. The reason I chose AirTran this time around was because you were offering the lowest airfare and shortest layover times as I was traveling to Los Angeles from Orlando. This would have been a great opportunity to bring me back to AirTran as a committed customer, and with this economy that would have been pretty big for your company. However, with the experience I encountered, never again will I fly AirTran and I would like to let you know, I am voicing this opinion to my immediate personal and professional network as well as my extended network across the internet.
I am going to deliver you the details of my experience and I would like 3 things in return. I would like an apology from yourself or your company on making the cancellation mistake as well as all of the Customer Service inconsistencies. I would like written confusion on all of the credits/vouchers Jessica and myself have. And I would also like someone to tell me your customer service motto because no one I spoke to in Customer Service seemed to know and I do not see anything posted online unless you think this is customer service standards: http://www.airtranairways.com/about-us/customer_service_commitment.aspxLet me tell you, information on customer service and details and specifications, speaks nothing about what your goal as a company for how to treat your customers and how your “customer service agents” should handle customers. I specifically asked various customer service agents your customer service motto and 1 out of about 7 gave me an answer. Of course it was just babble but at least they tried and didn’t answer like Mickey did over the phone on 10/20/09 - “I am not sure what you are talking about, I don’t know what a Customer Service Motto is and we don’t have one.” What a great summarization with the experience I have had with your company this past weekend.
Detail of Trip:
Booked flight for 2 through CheapOAir.com 10/15 - 10/19
Notified of a personal event and had to return 10/18 instead, it was so quick that I had to just go online and book the flight to assure I could make it back in time
10/15:
Check in: MCO: My CC was not working to Check-in, the Customer Service Agent (Female, not sure of name) said we would have to go to the far end of the kiosks and they would help me there, no explanation on what was going on.
Status: frustrated at one individual
Arrived to Alita who informed us that we needed assistance checking in since we were within 45 min of our flight departure (even though when we got to the gate we were informed that it has been delayed for at least an hour). I thanked Alita for being so informative because the other lady was of no help at all. Alita was very nice and I appreciated her communication, just wish she would have told us not to rush because the plane was delayed. But I have nothing bad to say about Alita, she was great.
Status: frustrated at one individual but over-ridden by good customer service!
Arrived to the gate and met Jessica and Kim. Both very nice. They seemed distracted at first but once I jumped in the conversation (about the Beach Boys) they engaged with me immediately. Jessica was very nice and informed me of the delay. Since she appeared to be so helpful, I informed her of my emergency to adjust my return flight. I told her about the booking with my friend and that I only needed to change my return flight, not to touch my friends. I gave her both reservations, the initial one through CheapOAir as well as the new return flight I booked directly through AirTran. She informed me that she could not return anything to my CC but that she would be able to apply the charge for future AirTran travels. I thanked her and said yes, let’s do that. While she was reviewing the paperwork a discussion began about her issues with germs, Kim returned to the conversation and their manager came over (Older Male, not sure of name). I informed him of Jessica and Kim’s friendliness and that I appreciated them cause good customer service was hard to come by. At this point I mentioned my frustration with the first female at check-in and we were chatting for a while. Jessica asked her manager if she could waive the $75 fee and he agreed. That was very appreciated! After Jessica did all the “documentation” in the computer, she handed me back both my reservation papers along with a Confirmation Number for my credit. She informed me that it was $257.40, which I assumed was simply a credit for the flight I had made through AirTran. Nothing else crossed my mind at the time.
Status: confused as to why Alita did not tell us we were already delayed and thankful for awesome customer service! Even put it out to my social network that I was pleased and impressed with AirTran customer service.
Our delay was finally over and we were on our way to Atlanta, our connecting flight to LAX was leaving from there. Upon landing in ALT, we were still being delayed on the tarmac. There were various people on our flight worried if we would make the connection to LAX. I called AirTran from the plane and informed them that we would be there shortly and if they could hold the plane. They informed us that a certain amount of people have to be on that plane for AirTran to hold it. That was frustrating. We of course missed the flight to LAX by 10 minutes. We were then informed the only other flight from AirTran to LAX that day was 7 hours later. To make sense of this all...you would rather piss customers off with a 7 hour delay than make a small inconvenience of the LAX flight to wait 10 minutes? Just doesn’t make sense in the big picture. We attempted to take another airline so we would not miss an entire day of our vacation. That was unsuccessful. We had to wait the 7 hours - and as a side note...if I was traveling to LAX for the Dodgers/Phillies game that day and missed it due to AirTran...I would have been infuriated. We appreciated the $10 food voucher and $25 towards another flight with AirTran but to be honest, that did not make up for the loss of a day of my vacation. Holding the plane to LAX would have impressed me beyond gift certificated of verbal apologies. It would have been something I would have expressed gratitude towards and I would have shared my positive experience with everyone I know...however...it was just the start of the opposite title wave of my horrible experience with AirTran.
Status: Furious at how the situation was handled and annoyed that I am missing an entire day of vacation.
While we were waiting our 7 hours, I came across two other employees I would like to share my experience with. As I kept checking in on the new flight to LAX to make sure no other delays were taking place, I had a discussion with some lady at the Customer Service desk (around 3pmEST), I was unaware of her name, and she said that the delay had been removed. I confirmed that there was a delay? She said she thought so because another customer had just come over and told her it had been pushed back to the original time. What? You think so? Why can’t you just check the computer and tell me? So she did and she said yes, it was still on time. Ok so why would you assume and make me even more angry and let me know there was a delay but it had been removed? Why not take the extra minute and look it up in the computer? Just a simple customer service touch - doing your job as a customer service agent right? So what could have been a 3 min informational comment turned into a 10 minute confusion/battle over the correct information and lack of customer service skills.
Status: Furious and pretty sure NO AirTran employee at ATL were trained on their role.
As we waited at a gate, reading our books, passing the 7 hours of time...I took notice to an AirTran employee named Marlene. She was manning a gate that had a gate change for a flight. She seemed very consumed in the computer in front of her that every time someone approached her, she didn’t even look up at the customer. That annoyed me and I was just observing, I wonder how each one of them felt. Appreciated and special, I am sure. As time passed and people approached her inquiring about the gate change, she seemed to get annoyed and frustrated that people did not know there was a change. Large sighs came from her and she would repeat her message over the intercom very snappy. “AGAIN, for those of you who were not listening...there has been a gate change....” Really? Maybe they couldn’t hear you because ATL AirTran wing looked like a Shopping Mall on Christmas Eve. Maybe they were dealing with the screaming kids all around them. Maybe they were in the bathroom. Maybe they weren’t able to listen. Such great concern for your customers Marlene, you should be a role model for all AirTran employees. I understand people have rough days and have a bad day at work...but really?
Status: Assured the AirTran has no customer service values, goals or mottos. Revoke the statement I made to my social network about being impressed with AirTran’s customer service and made a 180 turn on vocalizing how shocking and revolting it was.
Flight was finally boarding and upon entrance onto the plane, the Male Flight Attendant said, “I hope you have a blanket or brought more clothes!” EXCUSE ME? FYI I was wearing a t-shirt, sweater and shorts. Yeah thanks for the side note dude. I informed him of my frustration about AirTran and missing the baseball game. He informed me that they had Satellite Radio and that they were the best airline. I laughed out loud. I would have rather missed the game and received excellent customer service. Also, it’s one thing to claim you are the “best airline” another thing to prove it.
Status: Appalled
10/18:
Trip was uneventful, not impressed though.
10/19:
Jessica Roman, my travel companion: Called me to inform me that they had no record of her return flight home. WHAT?!?!
Status: Appalled, frustrated and confused
The first AirTran she approached at Check-in (female at LAX around 5:15am PST) conveniently had no name tag. Informed Jessica of no file on record and instructed her she could not do anything, maybe she should call AirTran. Seriously? Great concern for your customer no name tag lady.
Jessica called and reached Jim who spent about 20-30 min on the phone “researching” and came up with NOTHING. NOTHING? Jessica informed him of the possibility of her return flight being cancelled due to my change that I made at MCO on 10/15. He said there was no record of it and the best she could do was purchase a new flight home. What? The best SHE could do? Are you kidding me?
She was not satisfied so she called again and reached Miss Stacie. Stacie seemed concerned and actually treated the matter with Urgency. YAY Stacie! So Jessica informed her of the possible mistake of her flight being cancelled and Stacie, within minutes said YES! That appears to be the problem. Really no name tag and Jim? Stacie wins!! Does Stacie have better access than no name tag and Jim? If so, why employ no name tag and Jim? Just give Stacie a raise and have her work more hours or become a trainer.
Stacie had booked Jessica on the next available flight out of LAX which led Jessica back to ATL, changing her original layover time from 50 min to 7 hours. That’s a good job AirTran, cancel her flight and extend her time with you. At this point there was no apology for the mistake nor any compensation for Jessica’s extended trip. She received no food voucher nor did she receive an AirTran credit. We receive these on our trip to LA so why would she not receive this if it happened to her yet again? She had gone from a 50 min layover due to an AirTran error to 7 hours which required her to have breakfast, lunch and dinner at the airport yet no voucher? That makes sense.
Status: Speechless and just concerned for everyone that flies AirTran and actually works at AirTran
When Jessica finally boarded her plane at LAX, guess who was taking tickets? The no name tag Lady from check-in earlier. Jessica said she was announcing seats to everyone and saying thank you with the ticket transaction, when Jessica arrived in front of her, the no name tag lady said nothing to her and didn’t even look her in the eye. Way to recover no name tag lady!
Upon arrival on her connection city in ATL, Jessica was on stand by the entire day for flights to MCO but he approached one kiosk and inquired if she could just secure a seat on the earlier flight. She was informed if she paid the $75 change fee and difference in airfare prices. WHAT? Now maybe the agent didn’t know her situation but how long would it take to inquire or look in the system at the notes? That is just ridiculous. Why would you not place her on this flight in the first place if there was a seat available? And if there was no seat available, which I was told later over the phone, then why would he offer that as an option? Get it right AirTran, make your employees knowledgeable - it is just working against you.
Jessica took her scheduled flight home with no option of leaving earlier. Also I would like to mention that Jessica’s flight was overbooked and AirTran was offering *2* free round trip tickets if someone would forfeit their seat. Really? Way to deliver customer service?!?!?
Status: Thankful Jessica was home and we would not have to deal with AirTran flying experience ever again...little did I know I was opening a whole new can of shock when I would call AirTran’s Customer Service number to dive deeper into this failed experience. Continued to share my experience on and off line with my networks.
10/20:
Phone calls to customer service begin (6 made total)
#1 - not sure of the woman’s name. I specifically asked if I could speak to her manager or someone of seniority so I would not have to re-tell this story over and over. She informed me that all Customer Service agents were trained to assist with all situations and that she would help me; that there was no one above her that I could speak with. This immediately made me mad. I told my entire story to her that I had listed above. She explained that she was sorry for the overall experience but never took credit for the mistake AirTran made in accidentally canceling Jessica’s return flight home. Her final offer was $50 off the next trip with AirTran as well as a comp one way flight for Jessica. She asked if she had answered all my concerns, I said No and she said she would put me back in the queue.
Status: Frustrated that I informed her I had wanted to speak to someone higher and at the end she didn’t even pass me onto a senior even after I told her I was not satisfied.
#2 - Brian. Took my confirmation number and after he asked me my name and I stated it, he giggled with cockiness in his voice and said, “I’m sorry, What’s your name?” And asked for confirmation of the credit card the flight was booked on. I gave him 2 options, neither of which were “correct”. He informed me that he would not be able to help me without the correct credit card number. I said those are the only 2 cc’s I used and I have both confirmation pages in front of me with those cc’s on them. He was sarcastic and rude and said well they are incorrect. I asked to speak to someone else and he informed me that no one there would be able to help me unless I had the correct cc #. I said, can you please check the notes because I just got off of a call with someone for 30 minutes that was helping me. He said nope, I can not do that and no one here can help you. I said fine, would you just put me back in the queue so I can speak to someone else. He said he didn’t know what the queue was. I said the lady I just spoke to placed me back on the queue because she did not satisfy my needs. I asked Brian what the difference would be in me hanging up, when I was already frustrated, and calling back again - or you just putting me back in the queue. He said he would not do that and he could not help me. This was beyond any point of frustration or anger I have ever felt for any Customer Service representative for AirTran or ANY company for that matter. I told him he sucked at his job and hung up. I regret yelling at him but I was so beyond frustrated.
Status: Appalled and Astonished at Brian’s lack of professionalism.
#3 - Sandy. - I started off informing her that the past 2 people were not able to assist and hope that she could help me. Funny how she never asked me to verify the credit card number in order to speak to me (ahem Brian). She sounded nice and I was very calm with her. She looked over my notes but I had to repeat my entire story over again. Really? What are the point of notes then? Again, I told her I had asked to speak to someone higher up and she informed me she would be able to speak with me. After I repeated my experience, she apologized for my experience and frustrations. And began to repeat that when I called to cancel my flight, and I interrupted her because I didn’t call, I did it in person. She began to request that I left her finish. So I did. After she completed repeating everything, I began to correct her mistakes and she interrupted me, I requested that she let me finish. After I finished she said that there were no “notes” when I cancelled my flight that I only requested 1 of the return flights to be cancelled so she could not do anything. Well that is pretty obvious because Jessica made a mistake and was distracted by everything going on around her, never printed confirmation for me to double check, never sent me an email of confirmation of the change for me to catch the mistake, and basically dropped the ball in general and now I have to suffer more on top of my friend having to deal with her mistake? That is absurd! Sandy began to apologize for the inconvenience overall and explained that AirTran tries to take care of and make up for any experiences or irate customers. Yeah that is a great way to label me, an “irate” customer. Now on top of actually being frustrated and mad, I was called “irate” from one of your “Customer Service Agents.” That is inexcusable. Sandy continued with the informing me of what AirTran was providing to make up for the frustration. She explained that on top of placing Jessica on the next available flight instead of making her purchase a new flight (MOUTH DROPPED) that they will also be offering Jessica an option of either a $50 voucher or a comp one-way flight with restrictions. I informed her that the first person I spoke with today said she would receive both. (Again lack of consistency which only frustrates me more). Sandy said that was incorrect and it was either/or. I was not ready to fight this because I know Jessica and I never want to fly AirTran every again unless some miracle occurs that the entire Customer Service Agents actually get trained.
I inquired as to how Jessica would be notified and asked, can you send an email? She said the confirmation number was sufficient but if I needed, she could send Jessica an email since it was her voucher. Obviously ANY and ALL documentation is obviously needed since AirTran can’t keep their communication and “Confirmation numbers” straight. I provided her with Jessica’s email and she said she would receive it within 48-72 hours. WOW. I confirmed that it was all she could do for me and she said yes, that was it. Meanwhile she also informed me that my confirmation number for my credit (of the flight I canceled) was given a new confirmation number and Jessica now had my original confirmation number. That makes sense right? Also, not receiving any notice of this before nor confirmation status via email is not helpful to me and I can see how some of the customer service agents were confused (ie: Brian) but since this was YET ANOTHER AIRTRAN MISTAKE, why am I paying for it as the consumer with attitudes and multiple issues with your customer service team?
Sandy asked me if I was satisfied with what she provided me, I again responded no and of course she was NOT able to connect me to a superior so she put me back in the “queue” (that thing that Brian did not know existed).
Status: This was getting comical
#4 What do you know? I get Brian again and in a nice tone of voice, I immediately ask to speak to someone else and he says he can not do that. Surprise!! I told him he sucked at his job yet again and hung up.
Status: Disgusted.
#5 Mickey - Noting: she never asked me to verify the credit card number in order to speak to me (ahem Brian) good ol’ AirTran consistency. Noticed there were many notes and placed me on hold to review. When she came back she began to inquire when I called to cancel my flight, I immediately got defensive as this detail was still not correct. Mickey turned rude as did I. At this point, I felt hopeless and just wanted to confirm my credit for my cancelled flight. She said in order to return the credit on my credit card (this was news to me but I thought maybe AirTran was doing a favor for me instead of applying it to AirTran credit) she would need to verify the last 4 digits. Of course, I had them wrong again. This baffled me. So she gave me the name that was on the Credit Card and I had to call CheapOAir to get the information.
Mickey asked if I had any other questions. I said yes and asked what AirTrans customer service motto was. She responded with “I am not sure what you are talking about, I don’t know what a Customer Service Motto is and we don’t have one.” What a great summarization with the experience I have had with your company this past weekend. Exactly why your customer service agents are failing.
CheapOAir.com made a mistake and used their credit card to make the charge.
Status: Beginning to understand why the Customer Service was non-existent.
#6 - I don’t recall the females name I spoke to. Informed her of the issue and she said there was no credit to be given anyway as it was credit towards AirTran purchases. (good consistency AirTran) I was so tired of talking I just asked for her to email me the confirmation of that credit. She said the confirmation number was all I needed. I informed her I was not happy with that and requested an email. I was told it would be sent to me immediately.
Status: Skeptical.
10/26
It is days later and I am still waiting for an email of confirmation on my credit. I have, however, received two emails (10/22 and 10/23) with voucher information for $50. Now this is NOT my credit, is this in addition to my credit or is this Jessica’s credit that they sent to me in error?!?! I was told by Sandy that I wasn’t allowed to receive this email, not sure which AirTran Customer Service Agent was right/wrong here. Continued inconsistency. Jessica has yet to receive an email with her $50 voucher information OR choice of a one-way flight.
--
If I could re-live this situation, I would have rather paid the extra $254.70 and kept everything as originally scheduled so that I could get back the 10 hours of time I have spent communicating (unsuccessfully) with AirTran.
Maybe you should step back and put yourself in my shoes. How would you feel with this traveling experience? No concern, no care, no consistency, nothing customer service oriented about this AirLine. Don’t you pride yourself on the lowest AirFares? You know what...so does SouthWest and they somehow also provide excellent customer service. Interesting. I think they also win on the “lowest AirFare” comparing your charges of:
$15/flight to book by phone
$15/1st bag
$25/2nd bag
$6/flight to choose seats
Why not just increase airfare by $30 to everyone and not do additional charges? It would make the customers feel less under-minded and more confident that they are flying an airline that doesn’t cheat them out of money.
Like Chris Brogan says, Just add the freaking $6 water to my room rate and I will feel better about my experience when I get to drink the water for free!
"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results." ~Winston Churchill
Good Luck AirTran,
Colleen Burns
I am an extremely emotional human being. Yep, I'm female and all but it goes beyond that. I am deeply moved and touched nearly everyday. I wish I could pinpoint why I am this way but that would go way beyond weekly therapy to uncover the years molded in my heart.
My mother is my main source and the rest of my family falls right there too. My dear friends from childhood to adulthood are my loves also. I know people say u are rich if u can call one person your friend well, I am CLEARLY aware I am extremely fortunate that I have the ability to call MANY people my friend! I have had the same four core ladies from 4th grade thru today. I have shared 1st communion with them, they were at the party the time I first kissed a boy (he was wearing a red turtle neck and I a purple one), I have been in 3 of their weddings and now I am going to be an aunt to one of their beautiful babies!! Through life I was able to grow with these people along with meeting new friends with whom I have grown a deep bond with as well. I am lucky to have such a huge support system all through my life and know they will be there through the rest of my life! 
