The worth of a customer (or why I'll never fly United Airlines again)

How United Airlines turned an OK experience, into a bad experience, into a great experience, into a lost customer.



This post was originally going to be in praise of United Airlines about its great customer service. Unfortunately it is now going to be about how they turned a frequently flyer into someone who won’t fly with United Airlines again.

After my flight was moved yesterday, I stayed the 7 hour wait at Edmonton International Airport so my parents didn’t have to drive out twice. It’s not an exciting place let me tell you but I wrote and read and ate and waited. And then waited some more. 12:40 was my flight and they said the plane was there but we had to wait for some reason. 2 hours passed before they said the flight was cancelled. Rear brake failure. So glad to not fly on a plane with no brakes. Easy to take off but very difficult to land.

I felt so bad for some of the other passengers. I had to miss a day of work, and I really needed to be there on Monday. But others were missing starts of vacations and expensive MBA classes and sadly one couple were going to miss their cruise they’d been saving years to go on. The most gutting part is that they could have taken the Denver plane that left 30 minutes before and connected through to Miami if the UA staff would have informed us of the problem instead of telling us the plane was there and we would be travelling soon.



Another hour of little info or assistance until we got our bags and could rebook our flights for the next day. When the UA representative handed me my tickets, I was euphoric. Upgrades to first class! My 10 hour wait and missed first day at work was totally worth it (sorry boss - first class is pretty sweet). I now got one more night with my family and had a 7:49 flight the next morning.

And so day 2 of travel begins



The first flight went without a hitch. First class Edmonton to Chicago. Roomy seats and a snack. The man beside me had to move because the overhead light was broken. Also due to the cold weather, there was no coffee or tea as the pipes were frozen. Slightly concerning that a plane is flying and some of its pipes are frozen but they de-iced the plane which meant we were good to go.

In Chicago, it took me a while to find the first class lounge. There’s no one at any of the customer service desks as they have banks of computers in front of the counter instead. But finally after stumbling into a different lounge (which is pointed out on signs throughout the airport), I was directed to a poorly marked room beside gate C18.



It didn’t matter if was hard to find. It’s exciting to sit in a place where you can eat and drink and lounge to your heart’s content. Of course I didn’t eat too much. I didn’t want to ruin myself before my first First class meal on the flight. The food was good but the Internet was horrible. Not great for a business lounge but at least it was free.

The beginning of the end of my United Airlines love affair

They announced my flight. I gathered my things and walked through the business class line and right to the front. The first class thing has some benefits. They scanned my ticket. It beeped saying I didn’t check in. Wha? Then the attendant went to the desk and returned with a different boarding pass. Economy. Double wha?

She said if I wanted to query it to go to the desk and talk to them myself. I did. They said I shouldn’t have been upgraded. Did I want to talk to a supervisor? Yes.

So I am directed to sit while a supervisor comes. He does. Apparently the UA reps from Edmonton shouldn’t have upgraded me. It’s like worth $10,000. It doesn’t matter if it was a mechanical failure or weather. Even frequent flyers that fly thousands of miles with them wouldn’t get this upgrade. Yes. That’s right. Even their best customers wouldn’t get good service. And this conversation would want me to ever fly with them again? What’s the point of loyalty if this is what treatment you’d get?



Even worse, even though I was ensured my meal request would be transferred over, it wasn’t. So now I’m on an 8 hour flight with a fruit plate and some bread. Brilliant. And my headphones are broken and the man next to me has a broken screen so he has to hold it up the entire journey so he can watch it.

What is the worth of a customer?

I know I didn’t book in first class originally. But for 24 hour blessed hours I was. And then it was taken away with the promise of MAYBE getting a $100 voucher via email. So the UA folk in Edmonton made an error. But anyone who had good customer service skills wouldn’t have said what this supervisor said or did what he did. They would have honoured the error and took it up with their counterparts at the other airport. Instead of making a customer for life, they’ve left me never wanting to fly with them again.

I fly multiple trips to the states and Canada every year and have done for the past 9 years. And the frequency is increasing. In fact I’m speaking at Ungeeked 3 or 4 times this year plus another trip home. As my last trip cost £850 and my trip at the end of October to Toronto cost me £450, that’s already £1300 in their pocket - around $2000 USD - from me in less than 2 months. So am I only worth $100? $100 if they feel like emailing me the voucher that is. You do the math.

Social networks can’t fix everything

So this got me thinking. As I sit here on the airplane in economy, I see advertisements about the United Airlines Facebook and Twitter presence in their in-flight magazine, on their napkins, before their movies (you don’t really want to see “Be a friend. Find us on Facebook. We hope to hear from you soon :)” after a bad experience. And yes. They put the smiley face on there). But no matter how much they are online, will this improve customer service and employee education in their airports, at service desks, on airplanes. Will this help with communication and customer experience? Will this fix broken airplanes? No. Let’s see if United Airlines responds to my comments and what happens because of it. I’m not holding my breath. If my face to face experience with the people who work for United Airlines is anything to go by, I’m expecting nothing at all.

For those interested the flight was UA from Chicago to London. The time I flew…5:51 pm. No one told me their name but if you work for United Airlines, I’m sure you could find out. Maybe a customer service training session could be scheduled?