American Airlines Cancellations Shows Need For Renewed CX Focus
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Across the country, thousands of people eagerly waiting to travel after a long pandemic are in for a surprise—their flights may be canceled.?
American Airlines announced earlier this week that it is canceling 1,000 flights in July or about 1% of its scheduled flights. Customers are automatically being rebooked on other flights, but it could lead to different and potentially inconvenient flight times and layovers.?
American’s cancellations are due to an uptick in travel for which the company simply wasn’t prepared. Combined with labor shortages and weather issues, American is feeling the pressure. Canceling flights allows the company to have more breathing room with its employees and schedules.?
But where are customers in all this? Thousands of American Airlines customers are disrupted by abrupt flight cancellations.?
Customer Trust and Loyalty Are Crucial?
A strong customer experience is built on trust. If customers can’t trust a company to keep up their end of the deal—even something as simple as delivering the promised product or service—it becomes more difficult for customers to want to return.?
Building customer trust starts with clear and organized communication. It involves transparency and accessibility.?
In today’s fast-paced and ultra-competitive world, customer loyalty is one of the most important things a company can have. Customer loyalty is not easily earned and can quickly be lost. All it takes is one instance of a company putting itself above customers or offering poor service to lose their trust and destroy loyalty.?
Customer-Centric Companies Make Customers’ Lives Easier, Not Harder
Perhaps the biggest issue with American Airlines cancellations is that the company seems to think it is all part of delivering a great experience. By canceling flights now, the company argues it is saving customers from a disappointing experience at the airport when there aren’t enough employees to fully staff the flight.?
The phrase failure to plan on your part doesn’t create an emergency for me rings true in the American Airlines fiasco. Instead of looking towards the future to prepare an uptick in travel as COVID restrictions ease, the company misused its resources and created an emergency for thousands of passengers to adjust their travel plans. That’s no way to build trust or customer loyalty.?
The aftermath of the pandemic will show companies’ true colors more than ever before. We’ve all faced unimaginable difficulties and challenges over the last year—customers and companies alike—but how brands communicate and work to build trust by making their customers’ lives easier will be extremely telling going forward.?
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And it starts by not canceling their flights.
*Article first published on?forbes.com
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Blake Morgan?is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and the author of the bestselling book?The Customer Of The Future.?
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Respected Global Market Research Expert | Recipient of the First ESOMAR Insight250 LEGEND Honor for Pioneering Impact Through Innovation & Leadership
3 年Delta Airlines cancelled our overseas flight two months in advance without explanation. We asked for compensation for the inconvenience of their rescheduled flight. Of course, that, we were told that was not possible.