Brand Experience Disconnects

I recently had some interesting experiences with American Airlines that demonstrate the disconnect most companies have in delivering a consistent customer experience across their organizational boundaries.

In a recent business trip to New York and London I used miles to upgrade to Business Class. When I requested the upgrade a couple weeks before my departure, the agent informed me there was a co-pay for the upgrade.

Bad Experience #1: In their cost cutting efforts, loyalty (as measured in miles) is no longer sufficient for the footrest and poor food. However, since I was on a client engagement and needed to work, I agreed to the charge. The agent took my credit card and put me on the upgrade list.

My upgrade cleared a few days before departure and I headed to the airport at 6:30am on a Sunday morning (ah, the joys of business travel). When I tried to check-in on the website and then again at the self service station, I got a cryptic message that referred me to the agent.

Bad Experience #2: Why can’t they give you some indication of what was wrong from the website so I could plan for this delay?

I head over to the business class check in, waited in line and when I got to the agent, I felt like I was in that scene from Meet the Parents where Ben Stiller stands there while the agent types away, looking confused and spending a lot of time reading screens.

Bad Experience #3: After several minutes I find out that in order to clear my upgrade I need to pay an additional $50 “expedite fee” to pull my miles. I inquired why I was paying this fee when, a. the phone agent never mentioned it, and b. I made the upgrade request at least 2 weeks ago. I was informed that within 7-21 days it was $50 to expedite pulling the miles from my account. In today’s connected world, how can 2 weeks be expediting anything? Because I asked, I had to wait at least another 15 minutes for the agent to learn why this fee applied, delaying my journey to the gate even longer. Why are the agents unequipped to address these questions?

After 30 minutes at the check-in counter we finally sort everything out, I give up and give my credit card so I can get to the gate before my flight leaves and it’s all irrelevant. While walking to the gate, all I could think about was why do I maintain loyalty to this airline that treats me like this. So many people have raved about Virgin and Jet Blue and maybe it was time to forget about status, as it doesn’t really seem to matter any more.

While American Airlines corporate policy and agent education has much to be desired, a flight attendant in New York made a big difference. When departing JFK one morning, I went to turn off my cell phone before departure only to find that my cell phone is missing. I panicked. How would I survive without a cell phone half way through my journey? While people were still boarding I asked if I could go back to the admirals club to see if my phone was there. Not only did he let me off the plane, but also went with me to help me find the phone. We retraced my steps back to the admirals club, then to security and finally found my phone at security. The attendant went the extra mile to help a passenger and gave me one of the most personal experiences I have had with any airline.

This story illustrates the challenge large organizations face as they try to improve the customer experience. Organizations need to look at both the front line employees and organization’s ability to serve customers in a differentiated way. While Michael (the flight attendant) made a difference in my overall experience with American Airlines, he is only one link to maintaining loyalty. American also needs to improve their policies & agent education in order to improve my loyalty. In some cases, the opposite may be true. An organization may engineered an experience to improve customer loyalty, but front line employees don’t provide a quality experience. Remember, both are important.

As organizations focus on loyalty, they need to understand all the factors that affect loyalty and engineer a superior experience at all levels. While individuals can make a difference, your overall experience, and resulting loyalty, is only as good as your weakest link.