What happened to delighting your customer?

I fly a lot. For business and for pleasure. Last year, on Delta alone I flew more than 140,000 miles. I am a million miler elite plus platinum member of the Skymiles award program.

I fly this airline whenever possible. As a result there are perks… I get to be in zone one when I board. I am occasionally upgraded to business class. I appreciate these immensely.

But Delta is trying my patience….and I think this story can offer some lessons for Delta and other companies as well.

We are in a very difficult time for airlines. Their margins are squeezed. Travel is down. Regulations increase. I understand their need to make money. I want them to be successful, so the purpose of writing this is to point out how a different approach to a request can make their customers like me a whole lot happier. I believe the story has broad application for all businesses who desire to keep customers.

Situation: I am using miles to make a quick 4-night trip to Switzerland for their version of carnival. I have booked this trip months ahead. Three weeks prior to the trip I get a message that the return flight from Zurich has been cancelled. I can either do a much longer, more convoluted trip home that day, or I must change the return date. Since I have a business conflict that does not allow me to extend the trip, I now am faced with a very short 3-day trip. We make the change.

I suggest to the agent that it would be really nice if they would upgrade me to business class if there was space available on this flight. She can’t believe I would ask. So I write to customer care and suggest that they put me on stand by for the upgrade, giving it to me only if business class is not full on the day of travel. The lengthy reply includes this: “While we would like to offer special consideration in cases such as yours, compensation is not offered to customers impacted by a schedule change and we must respectfully decline your request for an upgrade on the return flight. I am truly sorry to disappoint you, as I am sure this is not the answer you expected.”

They were wrong here. It is exactly the reply I expected. And that is what is too bad. Whatever happened to wanting to delight your customer?

We now must pay to check luggage, pay to talk to a representative when making a reservation, pay for food, pay, pay, pay. And when we do not check luggage, the use of smaller planes means we still have to give up our luggage and wait for it planeside (and of course if we were first on, that luggage is usually last off, making it difficult to make the next flight since this was inevitably delayed.)

If travel is going to be more expensive and less convenient…if there are going to be fewer of us traveling…if airlines want to succeed….now is not only the time to seek ways to wring more money from each flight…it is also the time to find ways to delight your customer…especially if those ways do not cost you a nickel. This is what makes customers return…and tell positive stories.

My message is to Delta…and it is to every business that has customers. These are tough times. They offer us the opportunity to rethink the paradigm of customer service. How great is the opportunity to win friends and new customers right now? It is huge. We are all stressed and truly welcome those companies and their employees who try to make a difference in the customer experience.

I have, of course, told this story to a number of friends and colleagues. Just think how different their impression would be if I had been able to conclude by saying, “Isn’t Delta fantastic? They took the lemons and made lemonade.”