[Anonymous]

[rferguson]

In my experience airlines usually wait for a passenger to complain before they do anything to placate the frustrated customer.

Hence AA surprised me yesterday.

The flight didn’t start well – Paris to NY JFK, J class. We ended up with a four hour technical delay – in fact two separate technical issues. First we taxied out to the runway to be told there was a problem with the air con and we would have to return to stand to have it fixed. Two hour later, problem fixed we tried again. Again, got to runway pilot comes on the PA that there is a warning light that needs seeing to. This time we park out by the runway and steps and an engineer comes to the aircraft. Another two hours and we were on our way again.

A lot of very unhappy punters. Crew handled the situation superbly. Had extra food brought out to the aircraft and did a snack service while on the ground.

When my partner and I landed in NYC and opened our emails we already had an apology email from AA Customer Services along with a very generous amount of BA Avios to say ‘sorry’. We were really impressed with this. My partners colleague who is a member of AA’s FFP and was sat in Y also received an apology email and number of miles.

Has anyone experienced any other airlines that are pro-active in this sense?

Imho some of the US carriers are far surpassing the european airlines in terms of product and often service too. We had the old horrible angle flat beds but these will soon be replaced. And the food was far superior to anything i’ve been served in BA J Class.

Congrats AA!

[IanFromHKG]

Southwest appareently have a head of proactive customer service – otherwise known as the chief apology officer

http://consumerist.com/2008/08/31/this-apology-letter-from-southwest-is-refreshingly-honest-and-informative/

http://nowiknow.com/whos-sorry-now/

As I have said before, we all accept that things go wrong – but the sort of approach taken by AA here turns a negative experience into a positive one. How else would an experienced crew member such as yourself be coming on here and saying – we had a four-hour delay, and it was great!!

So well done, AA – let’s hope more airlines take the same approach!

[BigDog.]

Thanks for sharing rferguson – 10/04/2014 18:46 GMT

Ian_from_HKG – 11/04/2014 04:44 GMT
+1

Am very impressed with this pro-active response and AA’s ability to speedily react to ameliorate the situation with additional refreshments then prompt “personal” apology and compensation – all without being confronted!

If this is representative of the AA new culture generally it is most welcome and will certainly win people over from BA who IMO always have to be confronted (sometimes even having to quote rights and obligations) before being compensated.

Best trans-Atlantic business class with customer centric no-quibble service will make it hard to beat on the route.

[pheighdough]

Was this flight AA45 that diverted into Heathrow whilst en-route to JFK or were AA having a really bad day and had 2 CDG-JFK flights with technical problems??

[maxgeorge]

From swift 24/7 access to AAdvantage agents ( try that, BAEC! ) to efficient and friendly cabin service in new and ever more comfortable aircraft ( full-flat in J on 777-200s now ), AA is doing a bloody good job nowadays. The seats in the F cabin of the 777’s are supremely comfortable, the food and wines rival AF.

AA should be tried by any BA enthusiasts still disparaging the product. They’ve been steadily moving up-market as WW has been cheapening down.

OK, the Admirals Lounges aren’t great – but then BA’s have become a bit hit&miss. AA’s Flagship Lounges, if your status or ticketing qualify, are another matter.

Oh, and AA miles are readily and ubiquitously redeemable, with minimal fees. Try redeeming Avios in F or J to anywhere decent.

[Author]

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