How to Lose A Customer in 3 Easy Steps

I often fly out of Malaysia to visit my friends in North America using some major and prominent international airlines. For most part, it is their reputation in safety and cabin crew services that made me fly with them even if it cost me a lot more as compared to other airlines. With all the buzz and word around budget airlines and the hassle free and friendly services that they provide at half the cost I would be paying on the other non-budget airline, I am excited and thrilled to try them out.

I flew on a one particular budget airline “Z” for the first time in 2008 and I was completely surprised by the level of comfort and safety. This particular trip was a short local journey that took approximately 2 hours. The seats were comfortable and it was an overall enjoyable trip. From that moment onwards, my outlook and respect for budget airlines rose to a higher level and I could not wait for my next trip.

My next trip was to Canada and it was a long process to identify the best airline that will suit my schedule and budget. I have traditionally flown to Vancouver with Eva Air and I have always been satisfied with their in-flight services but not so much the overall cost of it. Quite obviously I chose budget airline “Z” as my mode of transportation to London and en-route to Canada.

As the airline “Z” did not fly direct to Canada, there had to be a lot of coordination and costs involved in completing the overall flight schedule. This was because I had to plan for connecting flights from London to Canada. But, it was very fortunate for me to be able to book a flight on airline “Z” as the cost is only a third of the actual total cost if I were to fly on Eva Air.

So, I decided to fly on Airline “Z” then coordinating a connecting flight from London to Halifax, Canada. The full intention was to have a shorter trip at a considerably lower cost and lesser hassle. I did not plan to stay in London at all but catching a connecting Air Canada flight from London Heathrow to Halifax on the same day.

As this is my first long haul flight on a budget airline, it was quite obvious that I was looking forward to it. I convinced 2 other close friends to fly with me on that trip. We planned for the taxi pick up on early morning of Friday, 2nd of March. We were scheduled to fly out of Kuala Lumpur to London at 2.50pm on that day. And sure enough, we were 3 hours ahead of the boarding time to ensure we complied with the airline’s requirement.

But as soon as we arrived at departure terminal at 11am, we were told by other passengers that the airline delayed the flight to the next day and even then it was impossible to get any details from the ground staff, except that it was unclear when we will be able to fly out of Kuala Lumpur. Just imagine the horror that I may not be flying out at all!

When asked, the airline ground staff, did not have anything positive or affirming to say except that they did not know when and if at all the flight will be operating. As I approached one of the ground staff, he did not want to say or comment anything further and arrogantly said “I do not want to deal with you anymore”. As you can imagine, my high hopes and happiness to board this flight has sunken to the lowest level. Can you just imagine this?? Flight Z714 is now delayed by 12 hours and I had to be in Heathrow in 12 hours to catch my connecting flight to Canada which cost me a bomb! Not only I came to realization that I will be missing my connecting flights but it will result in all 3 of us having to spend 2 days in London at another additional cost of hotel expenses and shorter time in Canada.

There was confusion, extreme frustration and hopelessness on our part as passengers but no one from the airline came to our aid or tried to explain what has actually happened nor to offer any assistance in connecting flights for those who needed the rescheduling.

So how do you loose a customer in 3 simple easy steps?

1. Lack of Communication

Flight Cancellation or delays are quite common in the airline industry. But it is also common sense and a simple thing to do to make sure your passengers are always kept in the light, not in the dark. A simple text message alert or email could have eased the customer’s mind.

2. Don’t put a “diva” or “know-it-all” customer service agents at your front desk. They’re not helping your brand image!

In this particular case, the ground staff should have been more sensitive and alert about the customer’s grievances and dissatisfaction. It is quite obvious customers especially flight passengers have pre-planned their connecting flights or have important business meetings in the other side of the world and they relied on the airline staff for comfort and assurance. They shouldn't have to face an arrogant, know-it-all and “diva” staff that just couldn't handle the realities of handling difficult customer situation and then threw a tantrum on the customers.

3. Don’t care attitude

A lot of time, companies may not realize that inadvertently they are not showing any care through their own actions. There is a certain perception especially of the front and customer facing personnel that it is good to say no to the customers because they wouldn't want to spend energy in helping them. They seem to enjoy the power to frustrate the customer. This is certainly not the right approach and by doing so, will only hurt the brand. In this particular incident the ground staff could just put the arrogance in the back burner and try putting themselves in the customer’s shoes.

There are so many other tips of how companies can improve and strengthen their image in the eyes of the customers especially where new customers are concerned. Please do share.

Success to keep these 3 simple things in check, could have kept me as a loyal customer, be it you’re a budget company or a multi-national. Keep the existing customer happy and keep new customers even happier and closer because they will keep your business going and growing.