Airline Sickness
Finally, New York got some snow and with it, the entire city seemed to speed-wobble. Kind of like what happens in LA when it rains.
I was in Birmingham, Alabama and missed the first half of the "Blizzard of 2007", although I did almost get hit by a tornado on Tuesday night! Seriously.
Over the course of the week, I have encountered (directly and indirectly) countless acts of unforgiveable customer service, customer response and customer reaction.
Customer service - Ruth Chris' legendary steakhouse at the Embassy Suites in B'ham, AL might be legendary, but I wouldn't know because it was completely full on the 14th when I got back to my hotel. Unable to get a table, I went up to my room and was told by room service (operating Ruth Chris) that I would have to wait almost 2 hours for my order. "Do me a favor," says the rude operator, "It's Valentine's Day." "I'm sorry" says the manager. Sorry doesn't cut it. Why wouldn't the Embassy Suites slip a note underneath the doors of the residents to inform them of booking early or making alternate plans? Why didn't the restaurant set aside a portion of the restaurant for people staying at the hotel? Why didn't the manager make an exception and rush an order through?
Customer response - My brother-in-law and best friend were attempting to fly out to Ithaca yesterday from LGA. US Airways 800-number couldn't cope with the volume of calls and so just disconnected everybody. Their website couldn't cope with the number of inquiries and so just spazzed out. Their chat didn't help either. For the love of everything sacred and pure, why the hell don't you guys plan for these occurences instead of investing in online chat which doesn't work? Can't you read a weather forecast?
Customer reaction - Jet Blue left its passengers stranded on the tarmac for over 8 hours yesterday (see all 359 articles here) and some dumb schlub from Goldman Sachs decides to upgrade their stock as a result to "Buy." Try "Bye" as in "Buh-Bye." What is this world coming to when the result of downgraded customer expectations is upgraded financial expectations. In fact Jet Blue's stock price increased yesterday. The reason given by an aviation-consultant: "traders weren't on the planes" Jet Blue have refunded the fares and issues a free round-trip to all affected travelers, but I wonder if they'll have the choice to choose a different airline...
What a wacky world.
