SFO'd

[blues deville]

Put blues deluxe on AC flight home yesterday to YYZ. Did the AC upgrade bid option and moved her to business class. Arrived at SFO two hours prior and headed for the business class lane. No one else waiting. Two digital signs flashing "Business Class" with two agents working. All others displayed Econ and maybe 10 passengers in that lane. The agent directly opposite us was on land line phone. Looked right at us. No acknowledgement.

Then she wandered around behind the counter looking for something followed by some intense shuffling of papers or forms on a trolley. Pretty sure she didn't find what she was looking for.  

And then I started to think she's not an agent but at the desk for some other reason.

Then she stood behind the scales looking at her iPhone for an extended amount of time. Thumb sliding several items sideways. 

Finally she mounted her bar stool and said "next?"  

We were the only next and held that status for at least 5 mins. 

Checked in with boarding pass and deluxe received her UA lounge access. A small fellow showed up from somewhere and tagged her bags (2) and lifted both from the scale. 52 and 35 lbs. Done. 

Later at gate G101 this same agent was working the counter and PA. Deluxe told me a few eager beavers lined up at their respective lanes (1,2,3 &4). The agent grabbed the mike and announced "I didn't say to line up. Please sit down". This sequence was repeated a second time for a newer group also anxious to board. As soon as this second group had just dispersed, she immediately announced the boarding call. WTF.

By the way, once on board every thing was excellent. 4d with no one in the window seat. Great service, food, wine and snacks over the 4hr plus flight to YYZ. Deluxe loved it and I scored some major points but probably already forgotten. 

However, if you had witnessd all of the pre-flight attitude and behaviour by that agent, what would be your impression? Your first impression of your trip?

Fortunately the FA on duty knew what customer service is all about and made it an enjoyable flight for those four rows of passengers. I know others paid a lot more then we did to sit there. The FA even remembered some folks from previous flights. Lots of small talk. Which is quickly becoming a lost art. 

An undercover boss would not have been impressed in my opinion. 

 

 

[FA@AC]

45 minutes ago, blues deville said:

Lots of small talk. Which is quickly becoming a lost art.

You got that right!  Phoney small talk, though, is now officially encouraged.  AC wasted all kinds of money on a course for us where we were encouraged to pay compliments to customers.  "Great tie!  What a lovely colour!" was one suggestion we studied.

They call it the HBH (human, business, human) model.  A lot of companies are encouraging their customer service staff to use it.  One begins the interaction on the human level with something like "Oh what a lovely sweater you're wearing!", one then conducts business, and one ends the interaction by returning to the human level with something like "And how has your day been going?".  

It's nauseating.

 

 

 

45 minutes ago, blues deville said:

 

 

 

[blues deville]

23 hours ago, FA@AC said:

You got that right!  Phoney small talk, though, is now officially encouraged.  AC wasted all kinds of money on a course for us where we were encouraged to pay compliments to customers.  "Great tie!  What a lovely colour!" was one suggestion we studied.

They call it the HBH (human, business, human) model.  A lot of companies are encouraging their customer service staff to use it.  One begins the interaction on the human level with something like "Oh what a lovely sweater you're wearing!", one then conducts business, and one ends the interaction by returning to the human level with something like "And how has your day been going?".  

It's nauseating.

 

 

 

 

I think if your small talk is genuine and natural it can help turn around someone's day. Not sure why this would have to be part of a groundschool course for cabin crew but most people can tell when it's from the heart and not from HQ. 

Over the last year I've traveled home thru YVR a few times and there is a group of ladies who seem to alway work the YYZ afternoon departures. I would say all long time employees, all beautiful and all funny. A couple of times I got myself on the standby list for an earlier flight so I would stand closer to their counter and hear their exchanges with each passenger. Not sure if it's a Canadian thing (just so polite with each other) but I'd say every passenger walking down the jet way were sent off happy and smiling. Exactly what every cabin crew member wants to greet at the door. 

[J.O.]

I concur, that's a great group who works those departures. I've never seen them stressed, even when it gets crazy. 

[FA@AC]

5 hours ago, blues deville said:

I think if your small talk is genuine and natural it can help turn around someone's day. Not sure why this would have to be part of a groundschool course for cabin crew but most people can tell when it's from the heart and not from HQ.

I agree.  Genuine and natural small talk is great.  Most of us enjoy it, and I'd like to think that most of us are able to tell which customers enjoy chatting/bantering with us about inconsequential things and which prefer to be served politely and otherwise left alone.

HQ, on the other hand, appears to think that scripted small talk is the way to go and they have even paid us to attend a couple of days of training where we were encouraged to practice it.  From my dealings with hotels, banks, telecom providers and other customer service organizations I get the impression that many of them are going that route.