Good Customer Relations: Delta Airlines - Essay Example

Good Customer Relations: Delta Airlines Good customer service is one of the greatest pillars of any organization. “You are on your own” is a phrase that should never be used in the same sentence with good customer relations (Spector and McCarthy, 2005). According to Spector and McCarthy, a company that takes its customers seriously also enjoys unmistakable loyalty from them. The following is an analysis of two Airlines and the differences in their customer relations services. This airline has been recognized in the past for its Airline Staff Service excellence in North America. The airline is proactively involved in the wellbeing of its customers needs. Its customer relations policy clearly states that the traveler’s experience encompasses a most elaborate customer service possible (Delta Airlines, 2010). The policy encompasses notification on and providing help in case of diversions, delays, and cancellations. The policy also addresses the issue of ticket refunds and baggage delivery. Delta’s corporate culture does support this customer service. The customer relations staff at Delta are not the only people involved in ensuring that the customer is satisfied. Everyone in the company is empowered to provide whatever kind of assistance is needed by customers. Implementation of the customer relations policy at Delta is very effective because everyone is ready to play their role in ensuring that the customer needs are well taken care of (Delta Airlines, 2010). Customer satisfaction ratings for American Airlines are as follows: Communication: A+ The airline’s communication channels are open to all customers. There is always someone ready to answer a question or offer a solution needed by a customer. The staff always communicates whenever there is a problem that may inconvenience the customers. Accountability: A The airline always accepts responsibility for anything that may happen to inconvenience travelers. The airline staff will not only take responsibility, they will also offer timely solutions to the problem, whichever it is. Responsiveness: A Responsiveness to customers’ needs is fast and effective. For instance, if there is a delay, the people responsible will try to rebook another plane so that their travelers are not inconvenienced in any major way. Empathy: A+ The airline tries as much as possible to empathize with customer’s needs. This makes it possible for the company to offer only the best services to its travelers. Solution: A- Whenever there is a problem such as a delay, the airline employees are always ready to offer the quickest and best solution so that their customers can reach their destinations on time. There is a high level of customer satisfaction because Delta treats its customer relations policy with the seriousness it deserves. Every staff member in the company is always ready to offer whatever kind of assistance that the customers might need. There is open communication between the customers and the airline employees. This makes it easy to find solutions to many kinds of problems. Poor Customer Relations: American Airlines American Airlines is one of the largest airlines in the US. Although it is a big corporation, its customer relations are not as good as they should be. The airline has a well defined customer relations policy which states that the customer’s safety, comfort and convenience are the airline’s most important concerns. Among the concerns that the airline’s policy promises to address include providing information and help in case of delay, diversion or cancellation of trips. The customer service policy also addresses the issue of lowest fare availability, ticket refunds, and efficient baggage delivery. These policies look good on paper, but there seems to be no real commitment to customer service in the airline’s corporate culture. This makes implementation of the policy difficult (American Airlines, 2010). Customer satisfaction ratings for American Airlines are as follows: Communication: D There seems to be a serious lack of communication between the airline employees and their customers. Whenever there is a problem, there is no one to explain it or even apologize. For instance, there have been many instances when flights were delayed and the airline staff offered no explanation or much information to help customers understand the situation. Accountability: E The Airlines customer service department is almost not responsive to customers’ needs. For instance, there seems to be no proactive remedy or options offered to customers offered in case of a flight problem. Responsiveness: D- Whenever there is a situation that needs quick response, the response is normally very slow in coming. For instance, in cases of delay, there is normally no communication as to what is going on and the staff does not even bother to rebook its customers on other flights.  Empathy: D When there is a problem, there is usually no one to empathize with the customer. This is not good for the PR of American Airlines. Solution: D Whenever there is a delay, or any other problem, there is normally no one in any hurry to remedy the situation. Recommendations Customer service in any organization has to be personal. At American Airlines, it is like the employees there are robots. This makes them seem impersonal and therefore they cannot deliver customer services as expected. There also needs to be great communication between the company and the customers. If the customers need to know about anything that affects them, then all communication doors should be open to them (Zemke and Woods, 1999). Good customer relations should offer quick and relevant solutions to any problems that the customers need. The customer relations department needs to be empowered to offer satisfactory assistance to customers (Spector and McCarthy, 2005). Responsiveness is very important if a company wants to its customers to be satisfied with the services provided. According to Zemke and Woods, the customer relations officers in any corporation should be ready to go the extra mile to ensure that customers’ needs are well taken of. Good customer relations should be able to build long lasting customer loyalty. A company thrives on its customers and it does not help if customers keep leaving because of unsatisfactory services. References American Airlines. 2010. Customer Service Plan. http://www.aa.com/i18n/customerService/customerCommitment/customerServicePlan.jsp Delta Airlines. 2010. Delta Airlines Customer. Retrieved from: Commitment http://www.delta.com/legal/delta_customer_commitment/index.jsp Spector R. and McCarthy P. D. (2005). The Nordstrom Way to Customer \service Excellence: a handbook for implementing great services in your organization. John Wiley and Sons. Retrived from: http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=jRce7E1zN2sC&dq=The+Nordstrom+Way+to+Customer+Service+Excellence&source=gbs_navlinks_s Zemke, R and Woods, J.A. (1999). Best Practices in Customer Service. Retrieved from: http://books.google.co.ke/books?id=bLTqOPI62OQC&dq=good+customer+relations&source=gbs_navlinks_s Read More