A True Customer Service Hero Story

A True Customer Service Hero Story-Mine

On a recent trip to Atlanta, I experienced varying degrees of customer service displayed by the staff at Frontier Airlines. ?I know that I am not alone in this, as recently, the airline industry has been in the forefront of the news in regards to the good, the bad and the ugly way passengers are treated. ?Almost all the major airlines-United, Southwest, Jet Blue, Delta, and more, have been in the news for poor performance when dealing with the flying public. My experience actually took place before I even got on the plane. ?In fact, due to the events that unfolded, I almost didn't make it onto the plane.

Before I share my story, let me say, No, I was not dragged off the plane by rude flight attendants or over-zealous security officers. ?No, my multi-thousand dollars guitars were not destroyed by staff. ?No, I was not berated or called some insulting degrading name. Mine is just a simple story that tells of my experience which displays examples of both mediocre service and Excellent Customer service provided to me by different members of the same staff.

How Do You Feel When You Travel?

These days, there is a myriad of emotions that the flying public feel when they travel by air. It is different for each one of us and many of us find ourselves on an "emotional roller coaster". ?You know what I'm talking about. What starts out as excitement for your trip often quickly turns into apprehension, nervousness, anxiety, frustration, impatience or any number of other not so-pleasant-emotions. ?We all have been there.

Touch Points

There are many points along one's journey-called Touch Points where there is an opportunity for a service professional to interact with and affect (either positively or negatively) the customer's overall experience. ?When I shared this story at the NCSA Conference- I began by asking the audience, "How do you feel when you fly?" ?They named all the emotions listed above and more. Interestingly, not a single one of them said, "I feel calm. I feel relaxed. I feel peaceful, or overjoyed."

The reality is that there are thousands of flights traveling across the United States every single day, carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers, many whom are anxious, nervous, irritated and frustrated.

Airline staff are Service Professionals. ?Their primary duty should be, regardless of their position or job title, to provide great customer service to their passengers as they ensure their safe journey to their destination. However, this does not always seem to be their primary concern.

My Story

I was booked on a Frontier Airlines flight departing at 12:40 am, from Las Vegas to Atlanta last April. ?I was super excited as I was scheduled to speak at the National Customer Service Association, (NCSA) Conference. ?This was my second year to be at this prestigious event as a speaker. ?And I was scheduled to speak not once, not twice, but a total of three times! Including closing the awards banquet! I was stoked! ?I had been looking forward to this for months!

Packing

When I travel, I tend to pack more than I end up using. More clothes, more shoes, more hats, more books. ?More everything. This is why road trips often work better for me, as there is no limit-or relatively no limit to what I can bring/pack, as long as I can fit it in the car. Also, it always takes me way too long to get all my stuff together, especially if I'm traveling alone and my wife is working. ?On this particular day, my wife was working. As she was leaving to work at 5:45 am, she admonished me to make sure I do nothing else this morning until I get all packed. I agreed and kissed her good bye.

I don't know what happened but the hours quickly flew by. ?My suitcases and garment bag were lying on the bed half-packed. I just stood there staring at them. I've got to finish, I told myself. Bottom line- I was rushed. I did not leave myself ample time to get to the airport and through security. ?I take full responsibility for this.

I order my Lyft and wait. I get in with my 4 bags; suitcase, matching carry-on, garment bag and satchel, and take the 20 minute ride to McCarran International airport. I text my wife. She mentions that I was leaving a bit late. ?I text her 'It's fine'.

At the Airport

Arriving at the airport, I was expecting curbside check-in at Frontier Airlines. Nope. There was none. I also had not yet printed out my boarding pass. I go to the kiosk but can't figure out how to print the boarding pass. I ask a staff member and they graciously assist me. That was nice. Thanks. I'm still a little irritated about the lack of curb side check in. It's how I always travel. It's easy, convenient and I don't have to lug all my bags up to the check in counter.

I walk up to the counter, place my suitcase and carry-on on the weigh scale. I put my garment bag and shoulder bag on the ground. There are at least 4, maybe 5, counter attendants, unoccupied, talking among themselves. I mention to them that I was hoping for curbside check-in. ?One young man replies, laughing, "Well sometimes we have it and sometimes we don't. It just depends what we feel like. Ha ha." ? I quietly say, "I'm not joking."

Wrong Bag

The girl who checked me in did not ask me any questions about the luggage I was checking. As I was looking for luggage tags to fill out, before I knew it, she hands me my boarding pass with the baggage claim stubs attached. I look behind her and I see my suitcase AND my carry-on disappearing on the belt.

"NO-O-O-O!" I exclaimed. ?'That's the wrong bag!' ?When I walked up to the counter, I just unloaded my luggage, placing the suitcase and matching carry-on on the weigh scale. ?I meant to place my garment bag as my second piece of checked luggage, not my carry-on. ?My carry-on had my $900. laptop in the front pocket. Unpadded, unprotected and uninsured. ?Oh, NO! We have to get that back. I am already rushed because I did not leave for the airport in time. Yes, my fault. ?I ask the Frontier staff at the counter how do we get my bag back? ?They kind of all say in unison some form of "No there's nothing that can be done." ?I think, that can't be possible. I'm certainly not the only person ever who mistakenly checked the wrong bag. There’s got to be a way.

Where there's a Lead, there's No Way

I am a believer that there's always a way. ?Someone has the authority, the know-how, the whatever it takes, to fix a given problem. ?But my request was met with an attitude of ambivalence and lack of concern. ?

I ask, "How do we get my bag back? My laptop is in there. It will be destroyed." ?

A female Frontier staff member says, "You can't get it back. No one can. And yes, it may likely be destroyed. There's nothing that can be done." ?

My heart sinks. I have visions of retrieving my crushed, completely destroyed laptop upon arrival in Atlanta. ?I blurt out, "There must be something that can be done. ?Who's in charge?"

That same woman who was speaking hopelessness to me a moment ago, walks away from me, while emphatically stating, "I AM. ?I'm the Lead!"

Wow. ?She's the Lead?! ?The Lead of what? ?I felt no empathy whatsoever from this person who claimed to be in charge. ?What kind of customer service is that? ?Yes, again, I admit, I am the one who placed the wrong bag on the check-in scale. However, never once did the counter staff confirm with me that these are the bags I was checking. ?And regardless, if the customer makes a mistake, shouldn't the service professional do or at least attempt to do something to fix the problem?

As I stand there, frustrated and bewildered, I wonder what am I going to do? The clock is ticking. I need to retrieve that bag. My flight is scheduled to leave in about 30 minutes. I ask one of the other staff members if there is a supervisor or manager that we can contact.

This young woman replies, "Yes, she went to get the manager." ?What? The person who is the Lead, who gave me no hope or assurance walks away to go get the manager? ?How bizarre. She did not make any attempt to reassure me or tell that she was attempting to find a resolution. Rather, all she did was emphatically state, "Nothing can be done and NO One can get that bag back! It’s GONE!"

She didn't say, "Just wait right here Mr. Weihman, I'll be right back." ?But now I'm told she went to go get the manager. ?So, maybe something can be done after all!

Maybe there is Hope

So, maybe something can be done after all!

Up to this point, I had not been impressed by the quality of care or concern by any of the Frontier staff members. Actually, I kind of felt as though they were being entertained by my plight.

Moments later, the supervisor, Sarah appears. ?I explain my situation, that I desperately need to retrieve the bag that was mistakenly checked. ?She assures me that she will do all she can to make this happen. ?Yay! ?Hooray. I finally feel that there is someone on my side. ?I am not relieved yet, but I am more hopeful than I was moments earlier. ?I ask if I should go to security and if she can just bring me the bag to security. ?She explains that the reason there is such a challenge with this situation is that once a bag is checked it can only go to one of two places; onto the plane or to baggage claim. ?If it goes to baggage claim, only the passenger is allowed to bring it to security.

She tells me to go downstairs to baggage claim, carousel 22 and wait for her to retrieve and send me the bag. ?She asks what my bag looks like and I describe it. ?It's black and white and has some designs on it. I really don't know how to describe it. My wife says it's white with black flowers. ?I really didn’t know how to describe it well.?

Here's a tip. ?When you travel, always take photos of all your luggage and have it saved on your phone. ?If you ever find yourself in a similar predicament you can easily just show the picture of your bags.

I head to baggage claim as Sarah heads to the inner belly of the plane or whereever the luggage for this flight happens to be at this time. ?I arrive at carousel 22. It's empty. No flights listed on the sign board. No people. No other baggage. That's good. I won't have to sort through other bags. ?Just wait for mine. So, I wait. And Wait. And Wait. Seemed like forever.

In reality it was a total of about 10 or 11 minutes. ?Even still, we are really cutting it close. I still have to go through security. ?It is now 12:09. ?Gates close at 12:40. I have barely 30 minutes to get my bag, get through security, ride the tram and get to my gate. ?Sarah is on my side. I know we'll make this happen. ?I'm confident, but sweating.

I had texted my wife while I was still up at the counter hoping for some kind of remedy to retrieve my bag. ?My message to her was, ‘I checked the wrong bag.’

She replied, "You're stressing me out." Probably shouldn't have sent her that message. So, to make her not feel stressed, while I was waiting for my bag at carousel 22 I prepared a pre-text. Once I got my bag, I would just hit send and she would feel better, knowing that all was well. ?My pre-text read: Got my bag. Now going to security.

As I'm standing at Carousel 22 waiting for my bag to arrive, suddenly another Frontier staff person appears and stands about 10-12 feet away from me, in front of the baggage carousel. She is texting on her phone, she looks over at me a couple times but does not engage me nor introduce herself to me. ?I think that's a bit odd. ?Finally, after a couple minutes, I walk over and approach her, introducing myself. ?She then responds, tells me her name, Maria (not her real name). Apparently, she is texting with Sarah and is there to ensure that I get my bag. ?She says to me, "Sarah, has your bag and is sending it now. She will escort you to security, once you get your bag." ? This sounds very promising to me. ?Sarah is going to 'escort' me to security. ?No problem. I'm very excited. Just waiting for my bag to appear.

I thank Maria for the information and then within a few seconds, at the top of the Carousel, out through the chute, here appears my bag! ?I am thrilled. ?It seems like forever for it to actually drop onto the belt and make its way toward me. ?Finally, there it is, on the belt in front of me. I grab it off the carousel. ?I don't remember if I smiled or said something to Maria. All I know is, I have my bag.

Wrong Bag- Again!

I head towards the elevator to meet Sarah upstairs to be escorted to security. ?I press 'Send' on the text for Michelle. ?This will ease her worries a bit. ?I take a couple steps and begin to run towards the elevator, when I realize something is not quite right. ? OH NO-O-O-O!!! I look down. ?It's the WRONG BAG! ?Sarah had sent my suitcase, not my carry-on!

I am stunned! I walk towards Maria and tell her the problem. Now, Sarah must go back and send the correct bag down to Carousel 22, AND they have to return the suitcase to be put back onto the airplane. ?I follow Maria into her office. ?She texts Sarah, telling her the situation. ?Then she makes a call, I presume to whomever is loading baggage onto the plane to inform them that there is one more still to come.

And then I wait. Again. ?I also realized that the text I sent my wife, "Got my bag, heading to security now." is incorrect. ?I decide not to stress her out more by informing her of the new status. ?I wait, staring at the Carousel 22. ?I'm praying that we can make it onto plane in time. I am thankful that Sarah is doing all she can to retrieve my bag. I'm frustrated, wondering how they could send the suitcase rather than the carry-on.

The time is ticking by and I still have to go thru security. Finally, the correct bag, my carry-on with my laptop in it, appears on the carousel. ?I thank Maria. I run to the elevator. ?I go up one flight to level 2 where I see Sarah in front of me with-I'm thinking a cart, something for us to ride to get to and through security quickly. No, instead, she is running and says to me, "Let's go." So, I run too. ?Here we are, running, Yes, I mean running, through the airport towards security. ?

When we get to security, she flashes her badge and I guess she assumed they would just let us pass through. ?No way. ?TSA does not care. You're late. Too bad. We did, however get to bypass the line. Thank God for that.

But now, I still had to go through the same, normal, time consuming procedure. ?Shoes, belt off, everything out of pockets, etc. ?Once I had placed all my items in the multiple bins, the TSA agent points to the other side of the aisle and tells me to take all my bins to that side, because this side is now closed. Ugh! Ok, so I do. I get through security, Sarah is waiting for me. ?I finish gathering my things and then we run, again. This time to the tram to ride to the gates.

We get on the tram and sit down. ?As we sat there facing each other, I say to Sarah, "I did not intend to create a lot of excitement for your team this morning." ?Sarah looks at me with a big grin on her face, (which I can't imagine why she would be so happy) and she says to me, "I always enjoy when someone presents me with a challenge, an obstacle to overcome and I get the opportunity to fix it." ?And that was about the extent of our conversation, I thanked her as the tram doors opened and we then proceed to run for the last time; to my gate. ?I ask Sarah for a quick picture. ?We take a selfie, I hug her and walk down the gangway to board my plane- 5 minutes after gates were scheduled to close.

As I boarded the plane, I was expecting the passengers all to applaud or to say something, either happy for me or perhaps annoyed that I was the one who delayed the plane taking off. No, nothing like that happened. They all, perhaps including the flight crew, were entirely unaware of what had just transpired over the past 42 minutes. ?The flight attendant greeted me and asked me to quickly take my seat. I found my seat and let out a huge sigh of relief.

I was on my way to Atlanta to speak at the National Customer Service Association Conference. ?I immediately knew that this experience I just had would inform my presentation entitled, "I Am the Customer Experience". ?Sarah truly embodies what being your customer's hero is all about. Thank you, Sarah!

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The above story is a great example of how one person can either positively or negatively affect the Customer Experience. Every day we have, as Shep Hyken calls it, the ‘Awesome Responsibility’ to make a difference in a customer or client’s life.? It is rarely a grand heroic feat, rather, it is more often, the small gestures that show the customer that you care.? It is the way we greet them and treat them.? It’s in how we send out positive, caring energy to them.? It is in the smile that shines and sends a message that is more powerful than words.? It is in how we embrace this responsibility and engage the wonderful people who come into our space, cross our path and become not only customers, but as my wife, Michelle, likes to say, ‘a part of the story’.?

It is my intention, my hope, and my desire, that as you read I Am the Customer Experience, you will feel inspired to elevate the service that you provide your customers.? As an author, I recognize that my customer is you, the one reading this book. I pray that you find joy in these pages as you consider how you might lead your team to greater levels of service to your customers. I invite you to read these pages with an open mind and an open heart.? The principles and ideas that resonate with you, take them, use them, implement them.? The ones that do not speak to you, leave them on the pages for someone else to come along and find.

I am humbled and grateful that you have come into my space and you now hold in your hands a powerful book that has the potential to dramatically and positively impact the way you impact your customers.

As you engage these pages, make yourself comfortable, set an intention for yourself to discover at least one golden nugget of value from each chapter.?

Each and every time you sit down with I Am the Customer Experience, may you feel anticipation of what inspiration is coming to you now.?

May the words on these pages bring a smile to your face, a positive expectancy in your mind and a feeling of joy and confidence in your heart.

You, my Friend, Dear Reader, are now a part of my story, and I, a part of yours.? Joyful reading to you.

Excerpt from The Customer Experience by Christoff J Weihman

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In Service,

Christoff J. Weihman

Las Vegas, Nevada