Comments on: How the travel industry can win you back

By: Best of the Web – Roaming Tales: Travel links for 14 September | Standby London Air Flights

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 22:21:38 +0000

[...] Hospitality. Christopher Elliott on Elliott.org asks whether the travel industry has forgotten that it’s in the hospitality business and offers suggestions on how it can win back consumers. [...]

By: MarkVII

MarkVII — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 22:52:01 +0000

What I get tired of when dealing with the travel business (especially the airlines), is not only the sense that they’re playing an enormous game of bureaucratic “gotcha”, but refusing to deliver even a modicum of elementary customer service. How many articles do you read on Travel Troubleshooter where the airline, motel, cruise line, etc. made a mistake, is plainly in the wrong, and refused to do anything about it.

Consider the Byzantine fair structures practiced by the airlines, immortalized in this old bit entitled “If the airlines sold paint.” http://www.netjeff.com/humor/item.cgi?file=airlinepaint.txt. Add to that the various fees that get tacked on, and I end up feeling nickled and dimed (more line ten and twenty dollared) to death.

Add to that, the airlines are the only business where I have to pay the full price of the services in question in advance (possibly months in advance), with no guarantee that the services will actually be properly rendered, and not effective recourse if the services are not properly delivered.

It’s no wonder air traffic is declining, and I’m part of the reason. I haven’t flown in almost two years, now preferring to drive. Another benefit of driving is I don’t have to deal with the TSA, but that’s another story….

By: Travel News and Stories for 09/14/2009 : Kathika Travel Website

Travel News and Stories for 09/14/2009 : Kathika Travel Website — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 12:42:51 +0000

[...] How the travel industry can win you back But before you say “yes,” listen to Laura Salisbury, a teacher from San Jose, Calif. She mistakenly typed the wrong return date when she booked a vacation for her and her mother through Expedia. http://www.elliott.org [...]

By: jeff

jeff — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 04:15:15 +0000

good points Chris. The problem with name changes is that, in the past, unscrupulous agencies would book all the cheap seats for popular travel dates with fictitious names as soon as an Airline released a special fare. They could then sit on them till closer till the travel date and re-sell them at a huge profit even allowing for any name change fee. That’s one of the reasons why airlines toughened up on the name change rules. So pax with genuine reasons to change are penalised by the actions of an unethical few. Actually now that I think about it, it’s the same as big event ‘ticket scalping’ and if it was allowed then anyone with a credit card and an internet connection could do it.

By: Best of the Web – Roaming Tales: Travel links for 14 September | Roaming Tales

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:01:47 +0000

By: Gregory Ferenstein

Gregory Ferenstein — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:49:07 +0000

Nice post! Airlines definitely need to step up their game in a recession. I think free wifi would give them a competitive edge (which I just wrote about in Fastcompany).

http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/gregory-ferenstein/fastminds/4-ways-airlines-could-make-flight-wifi-free

By: J.C.

J.C. — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 12:16:34 +0000

If we want better service we might have to pay for it. Fares have dropped 30-40% (depending on who you ask) since dergulation (in inflation adjusted dollars) yet costs have not dropped at the same rate. On one hand competition is good, it made the airlines compete on fares and give more of what the consumers want. On the other hand, at some point you have to pay the bills. We as consumers seem to have forgotten that you still do get what you pay for. If people really wanted good customer service they would be willing to pay for it. What people really want is cheap airfares (and toys and electronics and cars and pretty much everything else). Until that changes customer service will not improve.

By: Carver Farrow

Carver Farrow — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 00:09:13 +0000

Jay and Graham

I own my own company. I charge people what I believe is fair and ethical. The problem is that many of us consider the fees that the airlines in particular charge to be unethical.

By: Christine Gilbert

Christine Gilbert — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:39:48 +0000

I suspect the reason they aren’t more flexible is that this is part of their business model for making money. If they don’t allow changes (or collect fees for them), a certain number of tickets go unused and in theory they are able to fill those seats and get paid twice. (Is there a way to get industry on how much they make on fees/unused tickets?)

If the airlines would play nice, would we fly more? Would we be willing to pay more per ticket? Or would you be like so many people who fly Ryan Air, willing to put up with fees for everything and stripped down service in exchange for a cheap up front cost.

As a traveler, I want them to change! I’m just not very optimistic.

By: Graham

Graham — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:25:45 +0000

I think Jay has a really good point, and to take it further its the attitude the customer has as well. I know, everyone should be treated equal and technically they are, the fees are well documented in the terms and conditions and everyone is subject to them, but for those like Jay that phone up with a great genuine attitude people are willing to do more and go further.

Myself, I have been on the phone from home outside work hours trying to help someone get fees waived that made an actual mistake, but would I do that for someone screaming down the phone at me? Probably not, and not many would. People should try to keep this in mind, not just with travel but with anything.

By: Jay

Jay — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 15:33:35 +0000

A little more info on the story would be nice. A couple years ago I booked and paid for a ticket on NW’s website only to see afterwords I booked the wrong return date. I immediately called and they changed it to the correct date for free because they said I called right away and that showed it was a true error on my part.

So when did Laura call? It DOES make a difference. The fact is, a company won’t think it was an honest mistake if it was close to the flying date. And yes, I would expect a company to assume the customer was trying to make a change that was not due to an error if that’s the fact.

Some will say it should not matter either way. But if you own a company you might think different.

By: Carrie Charney

Carrie Charney — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 14:35:39 +0000

In 2004, we had two rooms reserved at the Hotel de Suede in Paris. We were coming from London and decided, on the spur of the moment, to take the train to Dover, the ferry to Calais and the train to Paris. What we didn’t know, and what quite a few others didn’t know, was that there were no trains to Paris from Calais after about 3:00. So, we booked rooms in Calais for one night and called the Hotel de Suede asking them to please hold our rooms, as we’d be there the next day. We did not discuss money. We knew we were responsible for the lost night. Well, when we arrived and without our asking, the manager told us he would not be charging for our first night of our six booked nights there. What an unexpected example of real hospitality!

By: Carver

Carver — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:45:45 +0000

Surprisingly, I agree with most of what Chris states here. One of the most distasteful elements of traveling is the distinct sense that the travel indusury is the least consumer friend industry in America. I can think of few other instances where such ultra-vigilance is neessary and there the penalty for an honest mistake can be so extreme.

In which other industry, can the seller penalize you not using the entire service (throw-away tickets) or not using it the way the seller wants you to (back to back tickets).

In which other industry do you lose the entire value of the ticket for missing a leg. (hidden city).

Who else charges fees that are completely disproportionate to the work involved, e.g. name changes.

and my favorite, who else gets to change the prices of identical goods and servies based on their perception of whether you are a business or leisure traveler? I remember being told once that it was unethical to reserve a room at the weekend AAA rate if I was attending a conference. I rejected that logic.

By: Lisa Skier

Lisa Skier — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 12:43:08 +0000

Pesky change fees – because of business my husband spent over 5K on air fare in September alone on his preferred carrier (based on location not service). When a business trip overlapped a previously booked, fairly cheap round trip ticket for our vacation had to be changed. Round trip cost had been 250.00. New fare – one way – 274.00 they were happy to charge me change fees and everything else….