The Friendly Skies are Listening

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

I am a loyal customer of United Airlines. More than 300,000 lifetime miles flown in the "friendly skies" does not qualify me as a uber-road warrior, but I can safely say that I've paid my dues. Through the years my friends at United have provided me with both positive and negative examples on the customer service front. I've tried to be objective and honest when dishing out critiques, and I will certainly do the same with my props. Today, I have to give United a thumbs up because, to their credit, they are listening.

Last week, I flew from Des Moines to Salt Lake City. Weather was bearing down on the Midwest and I prepared for a long day of delays. Sure enough, we were late getting out of Des Moines but I was assured the folks at United would automatically book me on the next flight out of Denver to Salt Lake. As soon as I got to the Denver airport, I went to the Red Carpet Club to double check my connection.

"You do want to go to Salt Lake City today, don't you?" the agent at the desk asked me. "Because they have you booked on tomorrow's flight." It was a simple correction and I had my boarding pass for the next flight out.

Sitting down in the Red Carpet Club to work on my laptop, I pulled up Facebook and updated my status:

Made it to Denver. Missed connection. United rebooked me on a flight TOMORROW, but got it straightened out. Working at the airport.

I didn't think anything of it until the following morning when I found an e-mail from United in my inbox:

Dear Tom:

Please accept my personal apologies for the delay and misconnection when you flew from Denver to Salt Lake City.

You were inconvenienced and this runs counter to our team efforts to run a great airline.  To assure you of our intentions to improve your next trip with us, I'm depositing 9,000 miles into your Mileage Plus account.

       Sincerely,

       Nancy Castro
       Manager Customer Solutions
       Customer Relations

United Airlines is listening to social media, and they are responding. Kudos to Nancy Castro and the team at United. Well done!

Are you listening to what your customers are saying in social media?