United Airlines - good people; bad management

It took me a week to recover my baggage from United Airlines.  The process provided ample opportunity for anthropological field research into one of the least appealing assignments among the many customer-service jobs that must filled to keep a modern airline functioning.

From the time I filled out my first lost baggage form to the time, seven days later, when, after having made an extra round-trip to Dulles airport, I managed to recover my baggage, the process was time consuming, ill managed and frustrating.  United’s computerized tracking system rarely provided accurate information.  Its voice activated IT system did its best to ensure that only the most aggressive and it-savvy lost-baggage passengers were able to reach human customer service agents, who, with additional research were sometimes able to provide information that was accurate.. 

Yet the result of the week-long process, comprising nearly 10 hours of interactions and several more of distracting concern, led me to grudging respect for the United Airlines employees who were among the principal victims of a dysfunctional system in which routinely lost baggage was just one of many dysfunctions.  Most of them were doing their best to maintain their good humor and respond to passenger   concerns.  When, after computer research followed by a physical search of more than 45 minutes, an agent managed to locate my bags and present them to me, her expression of delight was genuine.  We joked together about the consequences of not having what was packed for a week after a long trip (for example underwear) before I took my leave and she returned to her desk to face the next passenger.

As I said in an earlier posting, United Airlines staff members, especially baggage service agents deserve our respect, consideration and, like all human beings, our altruistic compassion.  They are doing their best in a dysfunctional management environment that is neither efficient, empowering, nor humane.

What do United Airlines Customer Service and Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness have in common?

2 August 2012

My trip home from Athens to Washington began smoothly.  I had arranged an early morning departure to connect with a mid-day flight from Geneva to Washington that would get me home in the early evening.  The taxi arrived on time. The driver was congenial.  The airport check-in line, though lengthy, moved swiftly.  The agent gladly entered my Singapore Airlines frequent flyer information and explained the benefits to which I was entitled. The contrast with my Dulles International Airport experience was stark.  It appeared that my travel Karma was good until a  few moments before landing in Geneva, an announcement that my Geneva to Washington flight been cancelled was posted on passenger cabin videos..

Normally when a flight is cancelled, the airline concerned has staff members awaiting arriving passengers to explain what arrangements have been made for their well-being.  There were none.  A Swiss Air agent suggested contacting the transit desk.  The transit desk had no United Airlines agent present.  The Swiss air staff member said she had received no information from United Airlines. She told me my only option was to go through passport control to the departure hall, then to the arrivals hall where I might be able to contact a United Airlines agent who could.  She provided three Kiosk numbers.

Following her advice I located the kiosks.  Only one of the three, labeled “Economy” was staffed. A United Airlines agent who was guiding passengers toward the single kiosk explained that there was no special service for first, business or priority gold passengers.  “There is only one line, I don’t know why.”  he told me.  I parked myself at the end of the line, which continued to grow in length and was not moving.  A  single stressed and harried agent was attempting to respond to passenger concerns, but, it appeared,  with little success.

After about ten minutes of waiting and no movement, a second agent approached me from outside the Kiosk area. “You are a Priority Gold member?,” he queried.  When I answered “yes” he escorted me away from the United Airlines kiosks to a window labeled “Swiss-Port.”  Three staff members were on duty and there was no line.  “These people will help you,” he told me and then walked away without further explanation.

When I explained my status and circumstances one of the agents immediately went to work, providing the support I had hoped to receive from absent United Airlines staff members.  She surveyed travel options, booked a Lufthansa flight  through Frankfurt the next morning.   She verified that my bags had arrived, and, when I said I would not need them, arranged to check them through. 

She then directed me to the “special assistance desk” which was accessed via a special telephone-accessed door that did not require going through passport control to receive transport to Geneva and an overnight hotel voucher.  I felt badly for the doomed queue of passengers still waiting forlornly at the United Airlines kiosk, but knew I could do nothing to save them from their fate, whatever it might be.  

By the time I arrived at the desk, the efficient Swiss Port staff had searched out and booked a more attractive same-day option, a flight from Geneva to London, connecting with a United Airlines London to Washington flight leaving from the same Heathrow terminal.  The fight left on time and, while United Airlines Business class service was indifferent, I was happy to have received an upgrade and be approaching journey’s end…

…Until I arrived in Washington to find, after a long wait, that my baggage had not arrived.  After clearing customs, I was directed to the United Airlines “Baggage Services” office where a long, slow moving line of fellow passengers and four harried UA staff members awaited me.  I had a Geneva flashback.

When I reached the head of the line and the agent had filled in necessary forms, she explained that, according to her computer, my bags were still in Athens.  I assured her this was not the case; that I was confident they had arrived in Geneva.  “Well…” she explained, “our computer does not connect with information from Swiss; that must be the problem.”  The transaction of waiting, standing in line and filling out a Delayed Baggage Report had taken more than 90 minutes.  However the agent expressed confidence that my bags would be delivered by the next afternoon or evening.  “Check in during the afternoon” she advised me.

The next afternoon I checked the United website and received the information that the search for my bags was still in progress. No information was available.  I called and reached a staff member.  He informed me that the bags had not been located.  When I asked him to check further he told me, after a wait, that the bags had been located in Athens.  I explained that this was impossible.  I had checked in early, the bags had a priority tag and I had been assured by Swiss Port that the bags had arrived in Geneva.  When I explained that another United Airlines staff member had told me about the problem - United computers could not connect with Swiss computers - he simply kept repeating, “the computer shows your bags are still in Athens.”  He would not listen to or accept the possibility that the computer was wrong and the information I was providing was right.  “Call back in about eight hours” he advised me. After several unproductive exchanges.  I thanked him and began mentally composing this blog posting;

Being a positive individual I am still hopeful that my bags, containing my printer, camera and valuable documents will still arrive sometime.  But experience with United Airlines today is causing my hopes to dwindle.  It is 10:05 PM.  More than 24 hours have elapsed since I arrived and more that eigh hours since I spoke with a staff member.  United Airlines baggage checking website just provided me with the following information - the same as previously.  "Tracing Process Continues:  Check Back Later."

How many hours have I spent with this Kafkaesque process, yet to be resolved?  How many more hours will I spend?  What fate awaits me and my baggage?    I shudder to think of the hours I will need to spend  should I have to submit a claim.  I pray that my karma will spare me this fate. 

This I cannot control. It is in the hands of the Gods. However future air travel is within my control. I will never book a United Airlines flight again, no matter how inconvenient and or costly it is to escape this fate.

What do United Airlines customer service and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness have in common?

THE HORROR… THE HORROR...

Why United Airlines ticketing agents merit our altrustic compassion

27 July 2012

Reasons why the customer service on US Flag Airlines is so much inferior to that provided by most international carriers is a frequent conversation topic among travelers I meet.  For many years, avoiding US carriers (Southwest Airlines excepted), even if this required a more circuitous and costly routing, has been high among my travel planning priorities.

On my present trip to Zurich and Athens, however,  there seemed to be no reasonable escape from two transatlantic legs on United Airlines.  Through its “code share” with Swiss Airlines, United Airlines offered the only non-stop flight between Washington DC and Zurich.  

For those unfamiliar with code sharing, this is an arrangement that permits airlines to list their flights as if they were being offered by a “code sharing” partner.  Think of it this way.  You have made a reservation at Washington’s elite Hay Adams Hotel adjoining Lafayette Park.  However when you arrive at the check-in desk you discover that the Hay Adams management has chosen to “code-share” with the local YMCA, located not adjacent to the White House but in the low-income district on the Anacostia River’s banks. In fact, using this analogy to illustrate the disparity between United Airlines, and carriers I most commonly use,   Southwest Airlines, Singapore Airlines, All Nippon Airlines, and Qatar Airlines, does Anacostia and a fine organization, the YMCA, an injustice.

It was United’s Ticketing procedure that was most egregious. (See my later blog about flight cancellations and loss of baggage).  Passengers seeking an international check in were herded (a bit like cattle to the slaughterhouse) towards a lengthy queue that, after a wait, spewed us towards a long rank of Kiosks fronted by touch screen terminals.  A sign over each bore the designation “easy check in." Sadly this was misnomer for both staff and passengers.  Far in the distance, I later discovered, were a small number kiosks that were available to serve passengers who had the temerity to seek “full” service.  

Since my “priority gold”  frequent flyer status allowed me to check two bags, I had packed in a manner that facilitated this, however “easy check in” did not offer this option.  I was only allowed to move to a baggage checking agent after I had inserted my credit card and been assessed an additional $100.  When I reached the agent and asked a about frequent flyer miles, her initial response was “your travel agent didn’t enter your card number.”  (My usual practice was to present my Singapore Airlines Kris Flyer card when I checked in. Star Alliance ticketing agents not affiliated with United Airlines always welcomed it.)  In this instance, however “move on” was the clear message from the agent’s body language.  I didn’t move an inch.  “Could you please enter my card number” I asked, in the most congenial tone I could muster.  After a pause, the response was a reluctant “yes.” My card number was duly recorded and new boarding passes grudgingly printed.  There was however, no mention of a refund for the $100 “excess baggage charge to which I was entitled.   

By this time I was exhausted by the effort of maintaining relentless good humor through a process that seemed not only dysfunctional, but inhumane. I decided that regaining freedom from United Airlines ticketing minions, without further negotiations, was worth $100.  Could their process be designed to produce exactly that result?

Venting ones anger at the stressed and dispirited United Airlines staff members I encountered would have been easy, but wrong.  I only had to endure the check-in experience for about 45 minutes.  It is their misfortune to be its instruments, with no opportunity to manifest humane interactions that make ones work-life worth living, every hour of their working days.  Our response to them should not be the natural one:  frustration expressed as rage, but altruistic compassion.  They are victims of a management system that makes their work-life what it is.  Their wages, are - indeed - ‘compensation’ for adverse circumstances.

But what about the top managers whose policies create suffering for employees and passengers alike.  They, too, merit our altruistic compassion.  The Lord Buddha’s teachings remind us that no action is without consequences.  What we sow, we reap, if not in this life than in our next.  What fate lies is store for top managers of the employees whose suffering I witnessed at the UA international check in counters?  No-one can say for sure, however I fear that their next life may not be a good one.