MY PREVIOUS article reflected on the dehumanised processing that we received in Miami and New York airports on our return from Christmas in South America.
Technology, essential to efficient handling of tens of thousands of passengers daily, resulted in an impoverished customer experience and impersonalised service.
Written during the Miami to New York flight, that narrative has a postscript which is worth a separate column, since it reinforces the same critical messages.
On our arrival at Heathrow, almost a day after our departure from Lima, we joined a forlorn group at the baggage desk to report our luggage missing.
In the absence of firm information on her computer, the desk agent urged us to scout around the luggage hall looking for the missing items.
We had all made a tight connection in Miami where, undoubtedly, the bags had failed to keep pace.
A forgivable error, but now it was imperative that the system delivered reassuring, personalised service recovery.
The first steps were at best faltering. No information on the system, but New York should enter data sometime this evening. No connection to the printer, but a hand-written receipt and a promise to contact us at least once every 24hrs.
Over 36hrs later, we still hadn’t heard anything, so it was time to make some more enquiries.
It took over 1hr to get past the engaged tone, and we were informed that, yes, our bags had been logged in New York, and should arrive within the next day – it was anyone’s guess as to when, but delivery after 6pm was not a problem.
Waiting for the arrival of three weeks’ accumulated washing was not really a problem for us, but such a lengthy delay would have been highly inconvenient at other stages of our trip.
One bag arrived at 10am the following day, and had to be left with a neighbour since we weren’t in.
The second arrived at 8pm that day in a separate delivery, now some 60hrs since we had landed at Heathrow.
At last our washing machine could swing into action and earn its keep.
Since this sorry sequence of events, we’ve heard nothing from the airline. Surely even a cursory analysis of the situation suggests that a brief phone call or letter would do wonders for prospects of customer retention?
The close personal attention required for service recovery is equally an opportunity to build a positive customer relationship for the future.
Its this absence of personal service that characterises the entire incident. The high-tech baggage handling system is built to handle bags, and it did indeed deliver our luggage eventually.
Its the airline staff who then have the unenviable task of interfacing from the system to the passengers.