Customer service: The right thing for good business

There is a lot of finger pointing going on at United Airlines these days. It all started with a total collapse of any semblance of customer service when United flight 3411 was getting set to depart from Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport to Louisville International in Kentucky. One problem. The flight was overbooked. The airline randomly selected four passengers to be told they were being bumped and would have to leave the aircraft. Three did, a fourth, Dr. David Dao, did not.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Most everyone on the planet has now viewed Dao being forcibly removed from his seat and drug down the aisle of the plane by Chicago Aviation police officers.

So what’s wrong with that picture? For United the levels of wrong are almost countless. Let’s look past the initial incident for a moment. United’s CEO Oscar Munoz, had to be asleep when he first responded to the sordid affair that has left 69-year-old Dao, according to his attorney, suffering with a concussion, broken nose, damaged sinuses and the loss of two front teeth. Munoz initially said, “I apologize for having to re-accommodate these customers.” “re-accommodate?” Someone should have read that back to him. That non-apology went over like a three-day flight delay. And it took a couple of days for him to finally say he was sorry: “The truly horrific event that occurred on this flight has elicited many responses from all of us: outrage, anger, disappointment. I share all of those sentiments, and one above all: my deepest apologies for what happened. Like you, I continue to be disturbed by what happened on this flight and I deeply apologize to the customer forcibly removed and to all the customers aboard. No one should ever be mistreated this way. I want you to know that we take full responsibility and we will work to make it right.”

Now the fallout. Certainly the airline’s stock price took a tailspin but will probably recover and there are talks of boycotting the airline that may blow over quickly in the U.S., but might not quickly recede in the ever-important Asian market. The three officers have been reprimanded and there is probably more disciplinary measures coming for the flight crew. United has refunded the tickets of all the passengers as it tries to wipe the copious amount of egg from its face.

What should have happened? Cold hard cash would have probably solved the problem. Choosing a passenger, like Dao, who was traveling with his wife was not a good selection in any case. Someone at the gate should have realized that and targeted another passenger. The process is also flawed because it turns into a how high will the airline go bidding game for the passengers. We would suggest a simple, matter-of-fact announcement. “Ladies and gentlemen, this flight is overbooked. We need four volunteers to deplane. Each will be given a free round trip ticket to anywhere United flies, plus $1,000 cash. No vouchers, cash.”

There is no guarantee the airline would get four volunteers, but chances are, you wouldn’t have to drag passengers off of planes if the selection process had a human driving the it instead of a computer algorithm. One of the gate or flight attendants should have been the adult in the cabin and figured all that out before the improper tool, (the officers) were called to remove a elderly man who just wanted to get home.

By making an offer passengers most likely would not have refused, everyone could have continued flying the friendly skies. Treating customers right, particularly in a highly-competitive arena, is not only the right thing to do, it’s good business.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "Customer service: The right thing for good business."