A Tale of Two Airlines
So, here I sit at a happy fun Free WIFI spot in San Juan en route to Bonaire for a vacation we can't really afford, but need. Just two days ago, I got home from Albany for a "business" trip (kind of). The difference in the two trips was remarkable.
I flew Independence Air to Albany from Dulles for 38.00. Yes, that was 38.00. Despite this low fare, I was treated fabulously by the staff. I checked in online, printed out my boarding pass, proceeded directly to the gate, went through security which had ZERO people in front of me (I thought I was in an alternate universe) and had a comfortable on time departure, an on time arrival, and a flawless happy flight. The flight home was similarly wonderful, despite a flow control issue that left us on a taxiway for 20 extra minutes. The pilot made up the time in the air and we arrived on time.
This morning, we arose at 4 AM (yes, the Psycho Sensei got up at 4 am...mark this day on your calendars) and got to the airport pretty close to our two hours in advance. We travel with a truckload of dive gear and underwater photo gear, so we find ourselves quite burdened. Wes dropped me off since now daily parking is in the South 40 and it takes forever to get back. The hope was for me to check in and deal with the bags, hand him his boarding pass, and we both go through security and board. However, this was not to be. A rather NASTY gate agent (who first admonished me for not waiting till she called the next in line and instead going to an empty kiosk... bad me) told me that TSA regulations state that she can't check Wes in, nor take his bags until he is physically present. I told her there was no such TSA regulation, and asked whether it was an airline rule, or what. She said she didn't know, so I asked for a supervisor. I asked him the same question and was told "It doesn't matter if it's my rule, the airline's rule or the TSA's rule, you're just not doing it." I asked again whose rule it was so that I could never again fly American if they were being so inconvenient for people, and he said "fine" and turned his back on me and walked away.
So, I went forth and dragged my bags BACK from the counter to the TSA X ray machine and waited. And waited. And waited. When Wes finally got back from parking the car, our original check in friend looked up and saw him, then pointedly left. We FINALLY got through that line, then through security (which really wasn't bad. They seem to have improved very very much, thank the Gods), and arrived 8 minutes before boarding.
Now, this American Airlines flight was at quite a high fare, and quite inconvenient (with a 6 hour layover in San Juan with not very much to do, and not even good enough shopping :-)), while Independence Air was at a low rate, so that wasn't the difference. Perhaps the main issue was that Independence Air goes out of its way to be CONVENIENT for its passengers. It has used convenience in an efficient manner, and has found that it indeed keeps prices lower. Making things easy for the customer often results in cost savings, and removes layers of useless steps thus eliminating positions for ineffective or rude employees, thus saving money even in the face of higher prices for fuel.
Passengers on domestic flights are "allowed" to use self service check in terminals. Half of them were inoperative. I tried to use one to check US in, but despite having reservation numbers and the credit card used to make the reservation, the system couldn't find it. Couldn't even check Wes in THAT way. It said domestic only, so even if they did find the reservation, we likely couldn't have completed the check in process, but I thought I'd try anyway.
Such simple concepts. Treat the customer right, look out for their convenience, have electronic aids that WORK, and don't be rude and nasty. It is a shame that some of our iconic American companies have not yet figured out that making the customer HAPPY is not only good business, but can save them money.