When will airlines ever respect and care for their customers?
Airlines are only in business for the money, all of them, domestic and international. Customers are not their priority. They are all there to make travel miserable. It is high time we get a better deal from them.
I am in my sixties now and I have valuable lessons to impart to all frequent travellers like me. I also have unsavory remarks about airlines and their personnel, and I hope they look at them constructively. I have traveled all over the world for the past 40 years of my life for business and leisure. The last three weeks alone I was in more than 10 US airports. In the past five years, I was in Israel, Jakarta, Tokyo, Dubai, Qatar, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Geneva, Rome, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Kota Kinabalu, Bali, and Yogyakarta. My criticisms are directed to all airlines, but mostly to our own. I challenge them to reply.
First, airlines are more focused on earning revenue and less interested in customer satisfaction. They do not disclose all hidden exceptions and all the details of options in the purchase of tickets, upgrading options, and extra charges for excess baggage weight. The fine print is designed not to be deciphered and read. They are all legalistic gobbledygook aimed at fooling us. In other words, airline companies are bent on making money without disclosing to passenger more favorable options. They hire a lot of credit and collection staff and hardly any customer relations personnel. If they are any, they are all for show and just to attract more customers. The personnel in the boarding counters are just making “tsismis” and do not even look at passengers directly in the eye when asked about vital information.
Airline staff are not forthright and sincere in announcing delays. They read from a scripted “palusot” and the travellers very well know they are just being taken for a ride. These staff are contractual workers who, with due respect, do not have the training of regular personnel. Flight attendants are more interested in selling food, drinks, souvenir items, rather than attending to passengers’ needs. They announce that airline property is not to be taken and bringing them is a crime. I find that particularly insulting, making the customers feel like thieves. What happened to HR management and customer orientation?
Many attendants are tired and irritable, they answer questions impolitely and peremptorily. Why are they hiring stewardesses who hate people? I have filed a number of damage suits against airlines and I have been awarded for breach of contract, discourtesy, misdemeanor, and offenses committed by airline personnel. I am the easiest person to get along with, but if my rights are violated, I do bring the offenders, including airlines, to court. We pay good money and we deserve good service. Tickets are not cheap. These guys better shape up or ship out. The contract of carriage does not tolerate arrogance, ineptitude, or stupidity. Each passenger has a bill of rights but our government is inept in its enforcement. Thus, we, passengers must be vigilant in upholding our rights.
If the airlines have a decent and sensible reply to all these, let them come forward. If they just want to make “bola,” let them keep their mouth shut. I was not born yesterday, and I am not their usual sucker for airline impertinence. Airlines should give better lines and less air. The people are not all stupid.
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