Do complements sent to airlines make any difference?

[amf1966]

During my years spent flying with VS, I sent around 5 notes via the correct channels complementing various members of staff from ground staff to cabin crew.

I recently had cause to submit a "golden ticket" to BA (whom I now fly with exclusively) for great service on-board which I considered to be over and above the norm. (this follows a couple of "thanks" submitted previously to BA.

I have never had any indication as to whether my feedback made any difference - in fact, in one case, I sent complements regarding ground staff for VS in Orlando. I actually saw her again a couple of months later and asked if she had heard anything - "No, nothing - what did you say?".

So, here's the question, does anyone have any tangible evidence of these things making any real difference and do the staff members concerned get to hear and feel any kind of benefit?

[easyflyer83]

easyJet in particular are good at ensuring feedback reaches crew. They receive thankyou cards from the company with the feedback.

The social media team can also be good in forwarding comments made on the Facebook/twitter feeds too.

[DaveReidUK]

I sent around 5 notes via the correct channels complementing various members of staff from ground staff to cabin crew.

I'm sure that any members of the crew complement would be grateful for compliments. :O

[Asturias56]

I think they do on many airlines - I've (very occasionally) written in over an "above & beyond" employee and I've ALWAYS had a very nice response saying it was passed on - and why not? It costs the airline nothing and must be a great motivator....................................

[FullOppositeRudder]

Our first and only letter of special thanks was sent to Air New Zealand a few years ago now. We were especially pleased with several aspects of their service, including a decision by the Captain to delay cabin service by a couple of hours due to an especially interesting transit through the ITCZ. We received a very nice letter in reply from management. A great company - we look forward to flying with them again. Unfortunately our subsequent travels have been on routes which, given our logical and local point of departure, do not conveniently allow ANZ consideration.

[olympus]

Many years ago I granted the F/D jumpseat of a full F27 to a passenger who was desperate to get out of Aberdeen (!) and down to Teesside. The weather was fairly grim so he had a ringside seat at a radar-vectored, hand flown ILS down to minimums. He was quite effusive in his gratitude as he disembarked; we loaded the next lot of pax and departed to NWI thinking no more about it.

Some weeks later I received via Head Office, a very nice letter from said gentleman addressed to me personally and thanking me for the privilege of the jumpseat and what was, for him, an amazing experience. The letter went to offer me and a companion, as a 'thank you', a weekend stay at one of the hotels in the chain of which he was MD and invited me to contact his secretary to arrange. The idea of a weekend away appealed so rang the secretary as suggested. Whilst speaking to her she mentioned that the Company 'was very protective of your privacy, it was very difficult for me to get your name out of them. They were most reluctant to tell me!' In the end it seems they did give up my name but insisted she write to me c/o the company. *

An opposite experience was the copy letter forwarded to me by the Company from an irate passenger who was very displeased with the completely full flight he took from GCI to STN one hot summer afternoon. As I recall the aircraft this day was the only -100 series F27 in the fleet and which had load vs fuel problems, a consequence of which was the need to leave many bags behind to be conveyed to STN later. The lack of his bags on arrival probably prompted him to write to the company but he was already in a bad mood as he, as a self-declared 'expert' had berated me after deplaning (I was already out speaking with an engineer) for what he considered to be a very bumpy landing! I was having none of this (it had been the F/O's sector) and it had been a perfectly acceptable landing for an F27, and I didn't mince my words in telling him so.

I spelled all this out in my response to the Co department which dealt with these matters so I assume the complaining gentleman got a soothing reply from them together with the hope that he would fly with us again.

* Spent a pleasant w/e in a very grand Lake District hotel.

[Cymmon]

I wrote a couple of complimentary e-mails and filled out forms on Qatar Airways regarding the attention to detail of the crew in Business Class. I received a personal e-mail from Akhtar El Baker (?) , the head man. I met some of the crew on later flights and they all had been given the genuine credit they deserved.
It also worked in my favour as its been added to my profile whenever I travel where the airline knows your preferences. I even got a cheeseboard and fantastic vintage Port without asking.
This was in economy class when I was supposed to be in business, but a honeymoon couple had been split up, I gave up my business seat. Another e-mail from the chief and all was good.
People complain to easily, but rarely compliment...
Needless to say all my flights with Qatar are perfect....

[b1lanc]

I can tell you that a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts to a hungry stafff at the ticket counter got me a free flight and exit row aisle from CLE to ORD after having to divert for a funeral and postpone the second leg for a day. The second dozen went to the FAs and pax on board.

[TURIN]

The BA golden ticket thing does seem to work. I know of an engineer who received one after taking a business class seat apart to recover a passenger's pen!
BA also have an internal social media thing and I have seen tweets and emails from passengers reproduced on there quite regularly when compliments have been given to crew.

[b1lanc]

The BA golden ticket thing does seem to work. I know of an engineer who received one after taking a business class seat apart to recover a passenger's pen!
BA also have an internal social media thing and I have seen tweets and emails from passengers reproduced on there quite regularly when compliments have been given to crew.

I've emailed United and Delta over the years and received some nice personalized responses. I would like to think that those who I felt went above and beyond eventually were at least notified. But then again, I remember a United pilot that used to had his business cards out to all the pax as they boarded so perhaps management loses the gratitude in a massive repository sometimes.

[Recidivist]

Initially an enthusiastic flyer, I later became a nervous SLF. On a QF flight into Sydney one night, I could tell that the B767 (not my favourite airplane) was being flown by a person of considerable skill and particularly gentle hands. On disembarking I asked the CC to pass my compliments to the captain (who I was informed was female). The CC actually asked if I wanted my name given to the captain so she could respond! I said that wasn't necessary, but it certainly seemed likely that my message would be passed to her.

[PAXboy]

On a related note: Last week I booked redemption flights through the VS call centre and received an email the next day asking for my feedback on the transaction. Today, I had tome so followed the link and it reported that the survey was closed as it had only been open for 72 hours after the invitation.

That is a pity for the staff at the Welsh call centre as, on both calls, they had been brilliant and I wanted to give lots of positive feedback.