Training = Customer Service = Customer Loyalty = Profit. #notunitedairlines

International Air Transport Association reported approximately 3.8 billion travelers that flown in 2016. This number is expected to increase in 2017. Though many fear traveling on airplanes, many utilize air travel over other methods due to the quick arrival of destinations. With numbers like this, airlines still must be competitive in order to keep profit levels up due to various expenses and taxes that increase annually.

With the top five airlines steadily competing, it appears that one has opened the door to social media in a negative way. United Airlines has had three negative occurrences that went viral on social media in less than a month. Yet United Airlines stock dropped 2 percent for less than a week rising back to 77.00 dollars average price again. This guarantees nothing for profit towards the company, board members and share holders as many airlines have learned from the valuable lesson of Pan Am Airlines back in the 90s when the largest airlines founded in 1927 collapse December 4, 1991. This gave opportunity to American, Delta and United to climb up. Recently you are noticing promises from the top five airlines concerning customer service to keep positive mainstream images to the current public that fly them everyday. Remembering the Airline bailout of 18.6 Billion dollars due to President Bush signed into law the American Transportation Safety and Stabilization Act due to the effects of 9/11 which grounded airlines for several days.

Airlines such as Virgin Atlantic, Southwest, and Delta have continued to increase in profit and positive image due to one major reason. These airlines invested thousands of dollars into training, customer service and customer retention. The definition of customer service was taught towards external and internal customers. I recall the slogan "Above and Beyond" when working at Delta Airlines that referred to full customer service and retention methods. Southwest Airlines took care of their employees who took care of the passengers. Virgin Atlantic's founder, Richard Branson, continued to promote that customers are number 1 every flight every day.

During the years of 2000-2001, Delta Airlines created a special team to target on overbooking and procedures when such events occurred. They valued their customers deeply and wanted to make sure to keep them even in the event that flights were overbooked. This project was performed at Hartsfield Atlanta Airport for 3 months straight to find a formula to minimize the amount of oversales and give a proper value for vouchers towards passengers who volunteered their seat. These are the reasons that United Airlines is currently the target of bad publicity and social media damages.

Though the major airline can repair and restore their image to the public, the question is will they learn enough to prevent future mistakes. Proper training in customer service, retention and loyalty not only promotes positive image towards the public but brings positivity within the workforce. This is due to the employees feeling empowered, knowledgeable and feeling genuine about their service towards their passengers. United Airlines has shown great efforts to stand behind their employees which makes the difference in resolving problems rather than creating them. The question that still stands is whether or not United Airlines will understand the importance of "Customer Service / Loyalty/ Retention" and make sure to pass this on towards their employees to display daily from now on?

The formula is simple as Training + Customer Service = Customer Loyalty and Retention which equals profit and credibility at the end. A formula that many companies know but only few will ever promote genuinely. With this being stated, all airlines have shown faults throughout the decades but timing is key on whether or not one action can cause many negative fatal reactions. Will this be a possibility for United Airlines? Only time will tell depending on their actions towards their employees who will react displaying the ending reactions towards the current and future passengers. Currently United Airlines CEO definitely understands the severity of bad customer service versus company policy. Can this understanding be passed on towards the company's 86,000 current employees to rebuild and save the once positive image of United Airlines?

Thank you for reading my article and read more articles, blogs, and videos from Get Up Radio Media visiting www.getupradio.com. If you seek an opportunity to improve your business or personal image for a positive makeover then contact one of our consultants of Better Business Promotion Solutions Group visiting www.bbpsg.com.

Alan J Cousin Jr.

Founder / Consultant

Get Up Radio Media / Better Business Promotion Solutions Group

www.getupradio.com / www.bbpsg.com

Member of the National Press Club of Washington, D.C. (www.press.org)

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