The End of Customer Service

The US Airways Baggage Ofice Manager at JFK airport, hard at work

I recently set out on a trip, only to realize the era of customer service has come to an end.

US Airways, partnered with American airlines in an effort to bring you better, stronger: bad service... apparently creating the airline company where good service came to die.

After a terribly annoying situation where they attempted to convince me to check my bags  upon check-in, for the low $20 dollar fee, upon arrival at the gate, it turned out that we were being forced to check our bags, for free.  (I wonder how those who paid for their bags to be checked felt at this point).

Long story short, upon arriving back in NYC, I noticed an odd brown matter smeared on the handle of my bag, so i inspected it more carefully... turns out, my hard case carry on, was practically destroyed, with cracks in 3 corners, and one wheel had fallen off. 

So lets quickly recap:

They charge you to check your bags, but once you get to the plane they force you to check anyway, then they break your bag. 

So far, not a great experience.

When you get to the baggage office, there is a special treat for you. You are greeted by a person who barely speaks english, telling you they will not replace your bag, because its "normal" wear and tear, lines clearly read from a learned script as the man couldn't elaborate on the reasoning behind his reply to my concerns.

When this guy told me that, I took my phone out, and warned him that this was too good, and I was going to film him saying that for my files, so by then he refused to explain the "policy" he had just gone over, stating "I already explained it to you".

Obviously, at this time, the camera pointing at them attracted the attention of the previously "busy" office manager, who was busy playing a game on her phone sitting right next to the other clown, but not offering any help..
"This bag isn't broken" she said. "I don't see anything"
Lucky me, there were other customers in line, so I looked at them and asked, does this look "not broken to you?", and once the manager saw their reaction, she had no option but to carefully inspect my bag, and agree that, in fact, the bag was basically useless after going through their hands.

In response, the manager agreed to "allow me" to file a baggage claim, since if at their discretion, the bag seems to be ok. they don't even give you the form to do so. 

Now, I believe this unfortunately isn't an isolated case of bad customer service. In NYC at least, 80% of all service providing employees are similarly useless. People on their cellphones at work, texting while you are giving your coffee order at starbucks so you can pay for overpriced coffee from a company that doesn't take more time to select their employees better. Or is it that they are paying so little, that they can only afford below standard human resources?

Its unfortunate but i truly believe we have witnessed the end of an era, where the customer mattered, and people still had pride in offering quality service.

#usairways #service #business #travel #flight #airport #vacation #sucksballz