11-16-2017
04:00 PM
Thanks for the response. Yes, I did confirm that I had Early Bird - it printed on my boarding pass. Your explanations for why SW does it this way are all business/financial reasons. I get it. But I believe they want to separate themselves on the basis of customer centric policies/practices, and this one fails the test. If the service provided at least equals the value expected by the customer, they are fine to keep the same practices. But when the value to the customer isn't there, customers recognize it and change their behavior because of it. SW doesn't want that. Then they become all the other airlines that they take pleasure in mocking as part of their ad campaigns/branding. So they take a 1% hit on the $250 million revenue stream to get this right. I say that makes good business sense.
... View more
11-16-2017
10:49 AM
I paid $15 for position C40, on a full flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix, last night. I had purchased the Early Bird about 10 days before the flight. Southwest is a very customer-centric airline/company, but their policy and methodology around this is flawed. Given that this is an automated process, based on some data processing and electronic communication to customers, Southwest should do one of a couple things: 1) communicate the boarding position via text or email, and give the customer the option of declining once they see their lousy boarding position, or 2) simply shut off acceptance of Early Bird purchases once they are "awarding" C positions. Does Southwest really think that ANY customer feels good about their $15 purchase when they get a C position in return? No one does - it's a no-brainer. So don't insult the customers by continuing this practice. Change it. It's just information technology and communication. Just change it Southwest. You do a great job in so many things - this is not one of them. And I did call Southwest about this last night, while I was waiting to board my connecting flight. I spoke to Customer Service, nice agent, didn't know how to answer my questions around Early Bird policies/practices, put me on hold for 5 minutes while she chased down an answer, came back, apologized and provided something that did not resemble an answer. I said that was unsatisfactory, she said I could call Customer Relations, which is different from Customer Service - they handle the tough stuff. But she couldn't transfer me, they were closed. So I called Customer Relations this morning, automated message advised me that I could wait on hold for 20 minutes, or write an email. So, the customer experience is diminishing by the second with Southwest. Not expected at all, and I am concerned. I am also a shareholder. Like Warren Buffett recommends, buy the stock of the companies you love to do business with. So I did. Conversely, I guess you should sell the stock of the companies that disappoint.
... View more