[NTarrant]

FDoS – why is it that some of these vouchers will never get back to the airline? There will of course be disaffected staff that won’t return the vouchers as there are in other organisations.

I would agree it is not a perfect scheme and it will be interesting to see if it is still going in a years time. I find it a bit sad that the usual suspects are poo pooing it

[NameRemoved-18/12/14]

I can think of only 2 outstanding examples of service in the past several years.

The first was a male CC member on a flight to Lisbon in CE.
The second was a lovely lady from Scotland. I was sitting in the back row of ET and even though she was working in the CE cabin she went out of her way to come and have a chat with me. I bumped into her again at the baggage carousel at LHR when I withdrawing £s and we had a good laff. She used to fly longhaul but now prefers the comfort of her own bed.

I didn’t get either name, but both obviously enjoyed their jobs and it showed. So, they can both fight over my virtual Golden ticket.

[LuganoPirate]

I would also throw the ticket away but for three different reasons.
1. It’s another bit of paper to carry around and think about
2. It’s a bit like giving someone a tip for service rendered
3. Good service is often a team effort. I’d find it embarrassing to give it to one member and ignoring the rest if they’d all gone the extra mile for me!

[FormerlyDoS]

Nigel

“FDoS – why is it that some of these vouchers will never get back to the airline? There will of course be disaffected staff that won’t return the vouchers as there are in other organisations.”

I think you answer your own question, in the second sentence.

If BA really wishes to reward (or sanction) their crew performance, they should invest in a mystery shopper exercise and do it properly.

I was one of a few frequent travellers who did this for an airline about 5 years ago, so they could understand their service delivery. We were given a template to follow and asked to write brief reports after flights. This lasted for about 9 months, although I still dropped in comments informally over the next 2 years.

In my case, I visited on one occasion, to make a presentation of the management of queues at an outstation, to provide prime facie evidence (photos) of standards not being observed, enabling corrective action with the handling agent.

This initiative was followed by targeted communications to the cabin crew on standards and then a general survey of pax for 18 months, based on the improvement opportunities identified.

I believe the campaign was successful and it helped to achieve a step change in performance.

[FormerlyDoS]

PS.

To Hippocampus and others

Why is it that you accuse me of being anti BA for my posts, yet never apply the same criticism to my posts about Emirates, which are similarly cutting?

[NTarrant]

FDoS – I agree they should invest in mystery shopping, if they do it right then it is an effective tool in improving both staff performance and other elements of the product.

[LuganoPirate]

Perhaps I wouldn’t throw it away after all, but place it prominently on my tray so the crew/attendants/FA’s (delete as appropriate ;-)) will all give me such outstanding service in the hope of “winning” it!!!

[MartynSinclair]

@ Nigel – “The biggest complaint from customer facing staff in all industries is lack of recognition for good service”

I could say the same about my clients. But I know when Ive provided a good service as they often come back for more.

My favourite hotel is the Westin in BKK. I would never pick out one staff member above the others as together, they all provide me with an excellent all round service. At the end of a 2 – 3 week stay, I go and buy bucket loads of sweets and candy and other goodies and leave it in the staff room. The GM always says this is a perfect way to say thank you.

After a good flight, I always use the web site to leave thanks, specifing the date and flight number of the flight in question.

I can just imagine trying to knock on the flight deck door, over the USA, “excuse me, I would like to give a gold star to the First Officer, I like the way he supports the Captain”!

I wish some of my clients thought about giving me a gold star (or a gold watch!!)

As far the thanking the cabin crew / FA for their good work before they sit down before landing…….. Perhaps the ground handlers should be thanked for getting our bags into the bagage hall ………….. quickly !!!!

[Hippocampus]

BA do use mystery shoppers as well.

As for cabin crew reaction, you will always get some who won’t buy into it and as these are used as part of evidence based performance reviews they will probably pay the price for it.

It is frankly churlish to dismiss an initiative like this and it is a welcome move towards a culture of individual responsibility, ownership and accountability.

[NTarrant]

Martyn – I think you are probably a very small minority of people who do what you do. I stay at a Radisson every week at the moment and the service is very good. When they send me an email asking for my comments I always complete the survey and say I am happy for my details to be known.

I agree with Hippo it is easy to dismiss the initiative

[FormerlyDoS]

“It is frankly churlish to dismiss an initiative like this and it is a welcome move towards a culture of individual responsibility, ownership and accountability.”

Go on, admit it. You are David Brent, aren’t you?

[Hippocampus]

“Go on, admit it. You are David Brent, aren’t you?”

What a disgraceful personal attack from this forum’s resident bully.

[JonathanM8]

I was part of a trial for Golden Tickets last year. I was sent two tickets to give to crew who gave ‘outstanding service’. I used them and was sent two further tickets to ‘reward’ great service. In all four instances, the member of the crew I gave them to were really chuffed – one on a really busy LCY service was almost emotional about it.

I am not sure why others are being so critical of this initiative. We all sound off when we experience bad service (I certainly do), but seldom take much effort to recognise when things go really well (maybe even above expectation). So anything that encourages and recognises great service should be welcomed. (BTW, I have not received any fresh tickets to hand out, so maybe this is not a universal programme yet)

[Henkel.Trocken]

“Hippocampus – 03/02/2013 18:40 GMT

What a disgraceful personal attack from this forum’s resident bully.”

I’m just back from holiday! Have I lost my accolade from the BA apologists??

[Hippocampus]

No Henkel.Trocken – You are still the supreme bully on this forum with your relentless personal attacks.

[Author]

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