You and I were meant to fly – or were we…

It all started on Wednesday afternoon, when I received an email from Airline A suggesting I check-in online for my flight the following morning (yesterday) to Toronto:

From their email: “Web Check-in is available whether you are have bags to check or are travelling light.” (Think someone at Airline A needs a course in spelling and grammar?) Come on people…you’re sending out an email to thousands of customers every day – proof read!

I travel a fair bit, but have never used the online check in system for whatever reason….so I thought I would give it a shot. Easy. Simple. Incredibly convenient. Within two minutes, I had my boarding card printed and was ready to fly. The next morning, boarding card in hand, I went right to security and through to the gate. It was a breeze.

It was in reality – the calm before the storm.

You see, because I had checked in online, I didn’t have to deal with any humans from Airline A the following morning at the airport. Which is why I didn’t find out until 5 minutes before the flight was supposed to begin boarding that it had been cancelled (the boards indicated no change in schedule, and apparently it was cancelled the previous night at 2am due to projected weather conditions).

This was my initial thought: You have my email address on file. You sent me an email the day before asking me to check in online, why not send me an email that the flight was cancelled? It just seems to make sense. If you are using the web as an interactive self serve channel, then use it properly. Use it in a way that benefits both your company and the customer. We all know that online check in is as much a cost saving tool for the airline as it is a value add convenience to travelers. Clearly the lack of communicating other important messages is an indication of which matters most (the airlines ability to save money).

I finally got out on a later flight on standby.

Flying home was the same experience all over again. I got to the airport, only to find out that Airline A had also cancelled all flights out of Toronto (due to lightning – again, nobody’s fault – but communicate). I was not happy. My biggest issue was the blasé nature of the representatives at Airline A – all I ask, is that you seem to care. Fake it if you have to – that is what customer service is all about. I want to be handled. Just handle me!

Enter WestJet:

I got lucky, WestJet had a flight out of Toronto back to Montreal, and I was able to get the last possible seat on the flight. And what a pleasure it was. WestJet is a young, energetic, dynamic customer focused, traveler centric airline that puts the comfort of its customers first and foremost. They are friendly, courteous and above all, their staff care (or fake it very well).

Here’s the kicker:

As soon as I landed back home, I called the reservations line for Airline A to get refunded on the flight home. The on-hold message system indicated a 28 minute wait. I had no choice. I waited (I now know the words to their theme song by heart – argghhh). After 33 minutes, a customer service rep took my call – and after collecting some details, asked if she could put me on hold for “only a minute” to get manager approval on the refund. Do I have a choice?

That’s when she hung up the phone.

I’ll wait for the credit card statement to see if she got approval.

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