Citizen Marketing – jaffe style

I’m sick and tired of threatening dumbass companies with action…I’m going to start taking some.

Today’s specially selected will include Northwest Airlines and indirectly, Delta. They are being fairly or unfairly singled out – not because of what they did, but because of what they didn’t do. You can decide whether my rant is justified or not; whether these two companies are innocent, scapegoats, guilty by association, or just ‘orrible.

My day – a nightmare, or rather a daymare – begins as I leave Explanation given: Weather in New York (funny, looked fine to me…and other flights were taking off), which is then changed to airplane maintenance, which is then changed to Minneapolis weather (different people…different voices…so much for integration)

Short story long….there’s a flight on some unheard airline called Sun Country which itself, has been delayed to 11pm. It’s the only option available. Northwest won’t endorse my ticket. They won’t refund my money. They don’t offer a hotel room. All I get for my troubles is apathy and the kind explanation that they care about my safety, unlike Sun Country which is a charter flight (huh?) and not that concerned about safety.

So I schlep from terminal 4 to 3, only to wait in line to check-in at Sun America for about 1 ½ hours. I crawl to the Delta Crown Room and pretty much beg for a break. All I want to be able to do is to plug in, check my e-mail on T-Mobile (I have a subscription) and relax. I have a Platinum Amex, which normally gets me into the room for free when I fly Delta and I also am a Silver Medallion on Delta.

Short story long…I’m offered a one-day pass for $50. No exceptions. No break. No “we feel your pain”. Even though their food/meal service is done for the night, I’m offered a non-negotiable highway robbery rate of $50 to be able to access my T-Mobile account which I’m currently paying for anyway.

As you read this, you might be wondering what Northwest and/or Delta (indirectly) did wrong. And if so, you’d probably be right. They didn’t do anything wrong. They were following rules. They were going through the motions. The humans on show could easily have been replaced with computer programs – kiosks if you will – with no ability to think, feel, act independently and in an empowered fashion.

When did Corporate America lose its humanity? Or its ability to make decisions on the strengths and merits of the particular situation? How is it that customer service representatives are unable to subscribe to the adage, “it’s better to beg for forgiveness than ask for permission.”

In this era of so-called perfect information; where data is the DNA of the future of CRM, branding and marketing in general, how is it that Northwest couldn’t have figured out a way to contact me in advance to prevent me from making the trek unnecessarily? Even so, where was the ability to take into consideration all the people who were scheduled to travel that simply had to get to Minneapolis on time for various personal and work commitments?

Instead, there’s this attitude of WHO CARES….TOO BAD….LIKE IT OR LUMP IT. Every airline begins and ends with the lines, “we know you have a choice of airlines and we appreciate that you chose airline XYZ”…but this is just lip service. The reality is that airlines know there isn’t really a choice due to the fact consumers will always opt for the cheapest fares if possible. Believe me…from now on if I have a choice between Northwest and any other airline, even if I have to pay $50 more (strike that…I need it for the Crown Room) I would.

This is the problem right now with companies and brands. They don’t really think consumers are in a position to do something about their shoddy, disgraceful and inept service. They patronize and insult their customers. They take them for granted. They think their consumers are lazy, filled with inertia and just too uninvolved to act. They underestimate them big time. But I am acting. I am using my blog to let out a lot of steam (and the beer I’m drinking right now is certainly helping)

This is the tyranny of limited choice…or so the arrogant brands think. Consumers will mobilize. They well congregate, aggregate and aggravate. Their numbers are growing and they won’t take the shit that’s being forced down their throats for the longest time.

Mr “I’m so smug” Crown Room attendant could so easily have let me into the room for 30 minutes or more. It didn’t cost him or his company a damn cent when all is said and done. Instead of making a tired and worn-out traveler’s day (that would be me), he passively contributed to it and even exacerbated it.

It’s sad. It’s unacceptable. It needs to change.

Because the way things are going…people are just going to fly less. And care less. Just like the airlines themselves…who so desperately need the business. Ironic perhaps, but not really.

What comes around, goes around and now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to cross my fingers that my flight takes off at 11pm as planned. I’ll get into my hotel room around 1.30am and I have an appearance on NPR mid-morning. Maybe I’ll even continue to spread the love on behalf of Northwest and Delta’s Crown Room. Now that’s the kind of publicity all the 30-second spots in the world couldn’t counter.

Peace.

Westport for JFK at 3pm. I have a 5.47pm flight on NWA. It’s about 3.45pm as I pass over the Whitestone Bridge when I hit the traffic jam from hell. A tractor-trailer has jackknifed on the Van Wyck close to the Jackie Robinson Parkway and bottom line, I arrived at JFK at 5.15pm to find that the Northwest flight has been cancelled. Simple as that. Cancelled. No delays. Just cancelled.