Yesterday’s post was Noise Pollution Inside an Airplane. Just as you closed your eyes after takeoff, the flight attendant shouted over the loud speaker about their customer service prowess and announced three new direct flights. As a special promotion, a non-refundable, one-way ticket, purchased three years in advance, and subject to other restrictions, was only $39.99.

The flight attended continued:

“Do you know that you can earn frequent flyer miles every time you purchase Viagra or Cialis? That’s right, United Airlines just worked out a partnership with the pharmaceutical industry to offer 10,000 miles for every ten-pack of male performance enhancer pills. Please see page three of the Traveler magazine for details.”

A slight pause then…

“The featured movie today is ‘Snakes on a Plane’. It is free for first class passengers and only $8.99 for those in coach. Before the movie, we will show commercials touting American Airlines’ exemplary customer service, followed by informative segments from the long-time TV news magazine 60 Minutes. After Snakes on a Plane, we will show another commercial which further touts American Airlines’ exemplary customer service, followed by a clip that further explains the restrictions on the $39.99 non-refundable, one-way fares to Spokane, Tulsa, and Spokane.”

Another pause…followed by:

“For your convenience, we’ve added several new features to this flight. Bottled water can be purchased for only $2. Soft drinks are $4. Blankets and pillows are $7. Boxed lunches are $9. You may keep the blankets and pillows and bring them to your next flight, so long as they fit in your carryon luggage. Though we can use credit cards now, we prefer not to, so please search hard for cash. As always, exact change is appreciated. If you don’t have exact change, we will take your money and bring change 10 minutes later, if we remember to. If we forget, come see us afterwards but be very mindful of your tone as we wouldn’t want to see any security violations ensue”

A brief break from the overhead noise…then you hear static followed by snickering over the speakers:

“We know that many of you want to sleep but I have one more item I want to cover. I’ll be brief. Today is Jane’s anniversary with Northwest Airlines,”

Giggle. Giggle.

Another voice over the loud speaker.

“George, stop this now or I will get you back on the next flight.”

More giggles.

A third voice pops in. It is screechy.

“Don’t listen to her George. Let’s do it.”

George continues:

“Now if everyone can help me out. One. Two. Three. Happy Anniversary to You. Happy …”

Lots more giggles

One more round of banter:

“Once again, we want to thank you for flying Continental Airlines, the leader in Customer Service. Thank you also for helping us wish Jane a cheerful Anniversary.”

Airlines—Do you get the point? Give us the safety spiel then shush it up. We are your passengers; your customers. Not your marketing department’s captive audience. Treat us with respect.

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Noise Pollution Inside an Airplane

The past few posts have focused on the poor customer service that haunts the airline industry. Now I want to share my pet peeve. Noise pollution within the airplane itself.

I’m not talking about the sound of the engines or a cry from a baby. I’m not referring to a frantic mobile phone call, where a type A business executive is shouting his way through a poor wireless connection. Nor am I referring to a portable DVD player, where the kid forgot the headphones but thought it was okay to listen to the sound anyway.

No, I am talking about noise pollution caused by the airline itself. Intentionally. Rudely. Self-servingly. Intrusively. Ridiculously.

It is early in the morning. You sit in your seat. The plane takes off and begins its ascent. Your eyes are closed and you start to doze off.

“Good morning and thank you for flying United.” Or American. Or Frontier. Or Northwest. “Our customers are the most important asset of our business. Please let us know what we can do to make your travel even more comfortable.”

Now you are awake again. Maybe travel would be more comfortable if you piped it down, you think. At least it was brief and now you can doze again. Instead you hear:

“Frontier has added three new direct flights, one to Spokane Washington, one to Tulsa Oklahoma, and one to Portland Oregon. For those of you who are able to book two years in advance, the cost of the non-refundable ticket is only $39.99 one way. As always, other restrictions apply. Please join us in one of our new flights to these exciting destinations.”

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9/11 Empowers Airline Employees to stand up to Passengers was yesterday’s post on the customer service shortcomings of the airline industry. It followed two prior posts: Airlines: Worse Customer Service of any Industry by Far and “Push on by,” barked Jim.

Some airline employees relish the power granted to them in the post 9/11 world. They wear it on their sleeves. Perhaps frustrated by the woes of their job or their industry, they are determined to show passengers that they are in control.

Last week, I was sitting next to a lady passenger in first class. I caught the tail end of her conversation with a United Airlines flight attendant.

“Thanks,” said the passenger with a sarcastic anguish in her voice, “that is very helpful of you.”

The flight attendant turned back at her and with a sharp tone said, “Excuse me. Do you have a problem with me?”

The passenger just shook her head and muttered something, but was clearly looking to avoid a confrontation. The flight attendant, feeling better now, added “It wouldn’t be sanitary. That’s why I said no.”

I asked the passenger what happened. “I have a daughter in coach. She is diabetic. I wanted to get this banana to her.” The banana was sitting on her tray. I don’t know if she asked the flight attendant to bring it to her. In any case, she asked for something out of the ordinary and was immediately told no. With a tiny bit of extra effort, the flight attendant could have made the passenger feel special. Instead, the attendant kicked dirt in the passengers face, practically taunting the first class passenger to pick a fight.

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“Dan, can do me a favor?”, asks Worldcom’s CFO

Over the past two days, I wrote two posts on the airline industry’s horrendous customer service: Airlines: Worse Customer Service of any Industry by Far and “Push on by,” barked Jim

I believe the post-9/11 environment has empowered some airline employees to be more bold with their customers. Even defiant.

If an airline employee claims a passenger’s behavior is raising a security concern, the passenger will face major ramifications. In a heartbreak, they will be whisked from the plane by armed and uniformed personnel. They will be questioned. They will the fined. They will be put on a security check list.

The stakes will be even greater if the airline employee says they felt threatened. And even worse if the employee claims that the passenger was seen as a threat to the cockpit.

I’ll provide another story tomorrow.

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Yesterday’s post was Airlines: Worst Customer Service of any Industry by Far. Here is a quick story that illustrates what I observe.

Jim was a flight attendant on August 13’s AA flight 1126 to Miami. Though he served first class, he was standing between first class and coach as passengers loaded. The last 6 or 7 people were boarding the flight, standing by as an elderly gentleman was getting into his seat. The gentleman, perhaps 75, was moving a bit slow—putting items up overhead, perhaps fuddling with his seat belt. In any case, the 6 or 7 people were pausing while this gentleman was blocking the aisle.

I don’t know if this went on for 15 seconds or more, as I noticed it for only about 5 seconds (I was one of the 6 or 7). Jim, the flight attendant, was about four rows from the older gentleman. What does Jim do? He bellows to those standing behind the gentleman to get to their seats. “Just push on by,” barked Jim. I kid you not. Just push on by. He was asking some passengers to basically shove this older guy into his seat, instead of waiting another 5 seconds for him to settle in on his own.

Perhaps I’m too judgmental. Perhaps I misread the situation. Perhaps Jim grew up as a boy scout and learned that helping an old lady across a street is noble and respectful. Perhaps he thought a shove or two would help the old guy get into his travels. Perhaps Jim was disappointed that the passengers should have offered a shove or two to this older gentleman out of respect. Sorry, Jim, if I misread the situation.

As it so happened, I was sitting in first class. To get from the stand-still to first class, I had to snake past Jim. I couldn’t help myself. “Should I shove you aside to go that way?”, I asked.

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Something about the structure of the flying industry makes it hard for airlines to make money. I’ve read reasons why this is so, but for the sake of this post, let’s just acknowledge that the industry structure is ill.

My question is: Is frustration over the industry a justification for horrendous customer service? I think not. If anything, you would expect the opposite. As it introduces new fees, fights for passengers, and knows travel is more stressful anyway in this post-9/11 world, you would think airlines would recognize that they need to treat their customers respectfully and passionately. Most don’t.

Aren’t airlines struggling to make money? At the end of the day, isn’t it better to have happier customers rather than bitter ones?

Tomorrow, I will tell a quick story about Jim, a flight attendant on August 13’s AA flight 1126 to Miami. It is a little story, but it is illustrative of the attitude of airline employees.

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“Do you have a problem with me?”, asks the flight attendant
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Our Pathetic Auto Industry

I have written many posts about financial management, business philosphies, strategy, and operational processes. I have emphasized that the responsibility of management is to create value for its owners. However, in all these ramblings, I might have skipped over the most important part of the business: its customers.

Shame on me.

For a business to thrive, its customers must be enamoured with the service they receive.  This is the foundation for all that follows.  When customers are pleased, employees are proud.  Satisfied customers and proud employees increase the likelihood of delivering appropriate financial results.   Financial strength leads to growth, promotion opportunities, and compensation increases.

Again, all of this starts with customers.  More specifically, it starts with existing customers being tickled pink with the service they receive.

For the most part, I believe my companies are viewed positively by their customers.  However, I know there are gaps in certain areas.  I don’t think this is the forum for discussing the gaps but I want to emphasize the following:

1) To our customers:  if you are dissatisfied with the service we are providing, please shoot me an email and I will make sure we attend to it.

2) To our employees: if you don’t think we are providing excellent service in certain areas, please speak up.  Don’t hesitate to let me know.   I expect this of you.  We need to set a high bar for ourselves and then meet it.  Our management team will value getting unfiltered feedback from employees on this topic–it will help us shore up those areas that we might be coming up short.

I want to repeat the primary message.  A business can only be great if its existing customers are enomoured with the service they receive.  For Zayo and Envysion, anything short of this expectation should not be tolerated.

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Did the email help?  Larry Page never responded, so we can only guess.

Miraculously, this week the problems with Google Groups experienced in July were fixed.  Links that were broken, are now repaired and working.  Blank pages have been restored with full content.

Is the fix permanent?  I don’t know, but for the time being, we are relieved that Google Groups are working again.

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Larry Page is the co-founder of Google. I emailed Larry the note below. The note is a plea for Larry’s assistance. Zayo Group and Envysion use Google Groups extensively. We have found it to be a fantastic and powerful platform for sharing company information with one another. However, the platform has had stability problems. We’ve tried to go through Google customer service channels, but have been disappointed with the responsiveness.

Larry did not respond to the note. Should he have? Is Google showing signs of growing pains? All companies get penalized when they stop taking care of their customers. Google, despite all its success, is no different.

Alas, we did see a major problem be fixed within one of Google Groups. Was it related to this note from Larry? More on the fix tomorrow.

——————————————————————————

From: Dan Caruso
Sent: Monday, July 21, 2008 12:26 PM
To: larry@google.com
Cc: Sandi Mays
Subject: CEO’s feedback and request for assistance

Larry,

We haven’t met but I hope we will get a chance to meet in person at some point. Congratulations on the success you are having at Google.

By way of background, I am CEO of a venture backed company called Zayo Group—a well funded and successful roll-up of fiber-based telecom companies. I am also chairman of Envysion, an earlier stage VC backed company that leads the emerging Managed Video as a Service (“MVaaS”) space. I sit on a couple of boards as well–GTS Telecom, the leading fiber-based alternative carrier in Central Europe, and NGT, a wholesale provider of VoIP. I was one of the founding execs at Level 3 Communications and was the CEO who took ICG Communications private and managed a very successful turnaround.

The reason I am reaching out to you is to get some help on a Google product that we use extensively: Google Groups. We use it as an important tool in our business processes and I have sung its praises with my investors and the various companies I am involved with. However, the product has become increasingly unreliable. My folks have attempted to reach out to Google to at least understand what to expect. If we know Google is committed to the product and is trying to fix the de-stability issues, we will stick with it. To date, we have not been successful in getting interaction with anyone through Google’s help desk mechanisms.

I am not looking for you to address this personally. Instead, I am hoping you can have an appropriate senior level person reach out to us and provide us information.

I also thought you might appreciate some feedback on the Google’s lack of responsiveness in this area. I am sure growing pains are a challenge for Google—this email hopefully will spark some action in an important customer service areas. I’ve attached below some specifics on the problem as well as how my chief of staff tried to get Google’s help.

I appreciate any attention you can give to this.

Dan

Dan Caruso

dan.caruso@bearequity.com

Visit my blog:  www.bearonbusiness.com

http://www.zayo.com

http://www.envysion.com

http://www.gtsce.com

http://www.ngt.com

http://www.coloradouplift.org

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