I have worked in a number of different sectors. I spent 4 years in Aviation.
Of all the different sectors that I have worked in, Aviation is the one with the worst customer service.

I suspect it comes from too many people in Aviation coming from a Civil Service &/or MoD background, or being trained/managed by someone with a Civil Service/MoD background.

The following is a typical response from some one in Aviation.

"In general nobody likes whiny insecure don't-you-know-who-pays-your-salary types"

I rest my case
 

Nor the chronically aggrieved.

You lot should think yourselves lucky,

Here in the Philippines their idea of customer service is to blatantly lie to one's face and when one might decide to say to them "Stop lying to me you goddam son of a bitch" one needs to say it in a calm voice and with a smile on one's face ... but it doesn't work, much of Asia is moving forward but the Philippines is still stuck in the dark ages because nobody actually "kicks ass" here.

And as for them begging and asking for money based on my (white) skin colour, the carol singing started on 01 December, I've had 26 days of bl00dy carol singers now and my resort guests are peeing their pants that "Harry" my dog has, by now, been trained to chase away the carol singers :)

Phileas, I wonder why they do that?

Over 30 years ago I went to catch a Royal Nepal Twin Otter from a strip in the Himalayas back to Kathmandu. Checked in in one half of the departure terminal (hut!) and underwent security in the other half.

Then the check in man annouced a delay. The plane had gone to Lukla earlier and the weather had closed in and trapped it. "But will come later" he said. Everyone just shrugged and headed off down the trail to walk out (only 2 days to Pokhara) so we followed.

I've often wondered whether the "but will come later" was a deliberate lie or a cultural thing to placate the masses (all 18 of us!).

Aviation is still in transition.

Many folks grew up with the era of (genuine) full service and still (subconciously) expect it. Even though they have paid a low price, they still think that this is not just a bus ride.

Further, they do not want to pay the airline to pay the airport to provide extra facilities in the heavy snow/rain/wind/pestilence that is visited upon the earth!

It is also an interesting time for EZY. I suggest that they have reached their objective as being very different from RYR as people now expect more from them. Don't bother quoting fares at me and that RYR might be more expensive than BA!

All UK airports are in a bind - do the job the way the customers expect? You won't get the customers because it costs money.

Happy Crimbo and my sympathies to the electrics staff and their families who have lost their xmas too.

On the EZY return flight back from Malaga to Gatwick on Christmas day all the crew were each given an individually addressed card by a passenger that read

“Dear xxxx

Thank you for giving up your Christmas so I can have mine.



Regards Dxxx”

Faith in humanity somewhat restored.

It's amazing to see how people are blaming one airline for a power outage that essentially closed the airport they use.

Then this vilified airline's staff gave up Christmas to try to get everybody to their destinations.

Wow.

This vilified staff includes an eJ captain friend of mine who gave up Christmas with his parents, wife and two small children to do this. He got home at 5 a.m. Dec. 26 after finally making his OWN way home after getting a flight down on the ground somewhere in Europe that had earlier been stranded in the UK. He then had to try to hitch flights home to The North where he lives--to get back from Europe where he then found HIMSELF stranded as that was his last flight of the day in that chaotic schedule.

Aside from that their large hub Gatwick had NO electricity for a long while. What were they to do at eJ? I'm baffled by this vitriol

Sadly, I'm not

How stupid are passengers, that expect an airline to be able to just magically repair a major flooding of essential electrical sub-stations swamped by the River Mole that just happens to run underneath Gatwick's runway and past the North Terminal on it's way to the Thames.

Even Moses himself would have had a job sorting that out! The sub stations are obviously not well protected enough and will need to be moved.

These passengers should have just been advised to go home by the Airport's owner..

What idiot would arrange to travel by air so close to Christmas anyway..:ugh:

Many have no other choice!

Experience has taught me never ever ever to travel by air in the run up to Christmas and it's something I've always stuck to and never once regretted as every single year something goes wrong which means people are stranded for Christmas. May not always be the air, but the trains or roads too. You can be certain that at least one of these major networks will fail on the week running up to 25/12!

Anyway, that aside, I'm sure some passengers were advised to go home (not that the news would report on that, too much to be gained by showing people who "were given no information at all") but, like sheep, many of them choose to just sit still "just in case" something changes and they want to be the first to know/act. In cases like this I'd have gone home straight away. No point in hanging around, many people probably did go home, but too many people simply ignore what they are told to do and stay put expecting something and getting angry when that thing doesn't happen.

It's like when a major airport has mass cancellations for days on end and people are told under no uncertain terms, DO NOT TRAVEL TO THE AIRPORT, yet, without fail, you still see people streaming in to the terminal to join the long line of people who are all being told they are going nowhere. Ash Cloud and Freezing Fog at LHR a few years ago being perfect examples.

Then why does it say "Check-in, bag drop & boarding gate opening and closing times are unaffected by delays" on Squeezie's web-site? Flight Tracker

So unless you see "cancelled" at least 3 hours in advance, you go to the airport.

It is almost impossible to get accurate information on-line or by telephone, so what else do you do but go to the airport, because otherwise you miss your flight and you lose your money. Most people don't want a refund they want to travel.

There has got to be a better way of communicating with customers. How about spending 5% of profits an improving this single thing.

Don't blame the punter for following the rules, as they understand them.

I'd recommend everyone use the App. It's really good. I was able to see that day my flight was cancelled, so I drove. On the day in question aircraft were fuelled with crew sat on the craft waiting to go and the operation was very go minded that day. It was pretty late on before it became apparent that the North terminal operation had to be stopped. It was so unprecedented that LGW management have been before the select committee. That day was horrendous but I recommend you all get the app as the flight tracker is the best I've seen and the info you get is direct from the people who make the operational decisions, and not a middle man.

Which 'app' do you mean fa2fi?? The airport? The airline? Which flight tracker?


also ...
BBC News - Gatwick Airport boss apologises over Christmas Eve chaos

That would be the easyJet app. That is the airline we're discussing here after all.

True, the thread is about EZY but had spread to the wider subject of Gatwick that day.

Thanks.

The title is still "easyJet shocking service at Gatwick". Not BA or others. Regards

I wonder if any of these problems will feature in future episodes of 'Airline' or 'Inside Gatwick'

My wife was caught up in the LGW fubar on Christmas Eve - having had a BA domestic cancelled mid morning (due to depart circa 6pm) and her subsequently booked Easyjet replacement flight also cancelled around 2pm (she went to airport early from work via a taxi with the public transport issues)

Without labouring the points made, her view was that front line staff were simply not being fed the information they needed to advise pax. For example her flight was showing on the excellent EZY app as cancelled - however LGW staff refused to let her go back land-side (via escort) as far as they were concerned the flight Wasn't cancelled!

She did comment that throughout the front line staff did exceptionally well to maintain a level of customer service (Calm, considered etc) whilst under extraordinary pressure. She did have sympathy for them despite her situation (which to be fair was no where near as bad as some other people).

She eventually 'escaped' and travelled north via hire car.

It is good, but unfortunately (for me) not available for Windows Phone. However, I can access the website, which usually does have the info, usually hours before you get it at the airport.

I have noticed a pattern of airports not giving out delayed/cancelled flight information until the last possible moment, often after the 'flight call in 5 minutes' board announcement. e.g. in one case there was no way they didn't know the flight was being delayed by 2 hours until after the scheduled boarding time, but that was when they told us. I'd already worked it out by looking at the delay on the incoming aircraft on the web!

And my two worst customer service experiences last year were with Easy and Gatwick. Once, watching my flight take off after being stuck outside the terminal due to a security alert, the second was a 6 hour delay whilst watching three other EZY flights to my destination take off.(Easier and cheaper to compensate 1 flight load than 3 no doubt!).

Strangely, I never have bad EZY experiences elsehwere!