Airlines

Handling an irate passenger

Date: August 25, 2015

Author: Michelle L. McDonald

Categories: Airlines, Caribbean, Customer Service, Employees, Service Excellence, Service Failure, Service Recovery

Recently I was on a flight in the Caribbean and witnessed an incident involving a non-Caribbean family and a Flight Attendant. I observed how it was handled and will share some pointers on what could have been done differently to ensure the situation did not escalate.

The passenger boarded at the rear of the plane with his family, which included small children. My attention was called to them when I heard the passenger shout “how many times do I have to show them? I just showed the man down there!!”

Apparently, he was irate at having to again show his boarding pass, which he had already shown the airport security personnel at the bottom of the stairs. The Flight Attendant’s voice became somewhat raised as she asked the gentleman again for the passes, which had the seat assignments on them. During this time, other passengers were waiting to board and some of those already on board were waiting to use the washroom. The incident continued for what I would consider longer than acceptable.

Empathy in Customer Service

Date: April 16, 2014

Author: Michelle L. McDonald

Categories: Airlines, Caribbean, Customer Service, Employees, Training

I was on a flight within the Caribbean, and observed a very interesting exchange between a Flight Attendant and a young mother, which could be used as a case-study in Customer Service training programmes.

The young mother was travelling with a 15-month-old toddler, who had been keeping her very busy for the duration of the four-hour flight. She had to use various means to keep him entertained. He just would not fall asleep…..and why should he? It was the middle of the afternoon and there were much more interesting things to do and see than sleep!

Midway through the flight, the passenger took some sweet biscuits from her bag and gave to her son. Not even 20 minutes after, he threw them all up. Immediately, the section of the plane we both were in, reeked of vomit. The two male passengers beside her seemed to be taking it in stride. From my vantage point behind them, there was no adverse reaction from either of them, and they even seemed empathetic towards the mother.

Responding to the Call Button, the flight attendant came to see what the problem was. The passenger told her that her son had thrown up. She also mentioned that it needed to be cleaned up.

Another gem about service during Cricket World Cup

Date: February 19, 2014

Author: Michelle L. McDonald

Categories: Airlines, Caribbean, Customer Service, Training

Caribbean people don’t like anyone from outside the region to criticize aspects of life in this part of the world. That’s reserved for Caribbean people! We do a great job of cussing each other.

So when a non-Caribbean writer wrote about an unpleasant incident a few years before the 2007 Cricket World Cup, he was “taken on” by various and sundry who sought to defend what it meant to be a Caribbean person.

It provided fodder for another article entitled Opportunity vs Nightmare. What do you think?

“Where is my bag?

Date: February 15, 2014

Author: Michelle L. McDonald

Categories: Airlines, Caribbean, Caribbean Airlines aka BWIA, Customer Service, LIAT

When the West Indies was preparing to host the Cricket World Cup, I travelled around the region as a correspondent for the website CaribbeanCricket.com. On one such trip, my bag and I separated. Naturally, I wrote about it.

Where is my bag???????