A while ago, I posted a letter I sent to Delta Air Lines [check it out].
A few weeks ago, I got a very nice voice mail from them!
I have not received any response from AirTran, who I also wrote around the same time.
Here’s the other letter I sent today. This one’s to Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Air Lines.
Mr. Anderson,
I write to you today to commend you on what a fabulous job you are doing. On my recent trip from New York/JFK to Atlanta, I nearly missed my flight due to highway traffic. I arrived some 25 minutes before my flight was due to take off, frantic and sure I would not make it. I ran up to the First Class check-in desk, as it seemed to be the least busy, and I explained my situation. Graciously, the gentleman checked me in ahead of waiting First-Class patrons (of which I was not one).
I ran to security and to my gate and just made it as the plane was boarding. I do not recall the gentleman’s name, but he should be honored! I was even more surprised when my bag arrived in Atlanta! I had just recently had an altercation with an airline who will not be named, where I arrived at the airport about an hour before my flight was to depart, and they lost my bag! Barbarians, I tell you!
Another pleasant surprise came on my return flight when I arrived at JFK some 40 minutes early! Quite lovely, if you ask me.
I understand that these are trying times for you, and I commend your dedication to customer service all the more.
I sent off a couple of letters today. Here’s one I sent to Bob Fornaro, President of AirTran Airways. I will post any response I get from AirTran.
Mr. Fornaro,
Lose my bag once, shame on you.
Lose my bag twice, shame on me.
That’s right. On my last two trips with AirTran, my bags have been lost.
The first trip was Atlanta to New York/LaGuardia on September 2, 2007 when I was moving to New York City. I had paid an extra $50 to bring a third bag, which happened to contain the sheets and pillows I intended on sleeping on that night. Why did I pay an extra $50, when the bag never even made it on the plane, or even to New York on the same day as myself? When I asked for my money back at the very least, the manager flatly refused.
The second trip was New York/LaGuardia to Newport News, VA on July 18, 2008, when I was traveling to Williamsburg, VA for a friend’s wedding the next morning. On this trip, you lost my only bag, which contained all of my clothes. I couldn’t very well go to a wedding in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops, and I couldn’t be sure when my bag would arrive the next morning, so I was forced to travel the 20 miles back to the airport at 1am.
The AirTran representative I dealt with at PHF was congenial and gave me a $25 credit, but that’s not enough for me to consider flying with you in the near future. Not by a long shot. That does not even cover the $50 I paid for you to lose my bag in September 2007, or the exorbitant price of gas I had to pay to get back to the airport in July 2008.
The essential problem is that you have become unreliable, while simultaneously raising your prices to the levels of other airlines. In fact, because I have to pay for such conveniences as sitting in an exit row, I end up paying more than I would on a similar flight on, say, Delta. Plus, they have the added bonus of not regularly losing my luggage.
You have left me no reason to fly with you.
While I have your undivided attention, I wanted to bring one more issue to light. On the aforementioned LGA-PHF flight, it took me some 30 minutes to check in, even though there were several AirTran employees assisting customers and not very many customers in line. The employees were extraordinarily slow and rather surly when I finally made it to the front. I suggest sending spies to LaGuardia’s Terminal D or Atlanta’s South Terminal to find out how a 21st century check-in system works.
I emailed Blockbuster a few years ago about something or another and received the following response:
Dear Customer,
We apologize that we cannot be of more help to you, but we currently have no information regarding when the movie “[INSERT MOVIE TITLE]” will be released on video.
Your satisfaction is our top priority. If you have any questions or would like to speak to a Customer Care Representative, send us an email at customercare@shop.blockbuster.com or calls us at 1-800-441-4736.
Sincerely,
Blockbuster.Com Customer Care
So there’s the first obvious problem of “[INSERT MOVIE TITLE]“, but there’s also the grammatical error of “…or calls us at…”.
silly blockbuster… and you wonder why i’ve left you for netflix!
love,
tolar
