HOT RIP
NY,#2Consumer Comment
Wed, March 05, 2008
My first ever journey with NWA came out to be a bitter experience. Let me just narrate the story in short. I started from Seoul to Detroit by NWA flight on 18th of Feb 2008. the ticket was booked few weeks in advance with all iterinary and meal preferences confirmed. After flight took off Incheon airport, the flight attendant came with polite smile and told me your meal is confirmed. And she wished me a good flight. But to my wonder when actual food came with VGML label and my name on tray, what i found inside the tray there was full bowl of Chicken which was later confirmed by same attendant. though the lable was confirming food to be VGML. Attendant said she doesn;t have any replacement for this, however she tried to help me with food from business class which again was not vegetarian. My journey was 15 hours long and such careless treatment and that too my first ever journey with NWA, i got shocked. To put more salt on my wound she offered me vouchers of 10$ , so that I can go and eat after 15 hours of flight, till then I was expected to remain starved. With this experience I have decided never to travel by NWA again in my life. I often use European , gulf or other wonderful Asian airlines like SIA, cathay,Asiana. It made me feel that these north American based airlines are just pathetic as I heard in terms of customer service . On top of that she didn;t give me any feedback form and advised me to go and check website to login my comments. Vegetarians please beaware that you are not in good hands if you ever want to travel by NWA for long haul flights. other observations I made in terms of dirty restrooms, aged attendants , limited food, limited drinks(that too if you pay separate for drinks), broken headphones. of course the leased smiles on the faces were bit of air in desert. Hope such airlines do wonderful business by ripping off their customers who has little or least respect for vegetarians. Would you like to travel by NWA after reading by terrible experience. Good bye NWA, you don;t get my business, I would take normal Asia or Europe based airlines who treat me as normal passenger with respect. Finally after lot of trouble and miserable journey after 2 weeks I got a reply from their customer service and she said this concern has been forwarded to director food service. This airline is a big joke specially when you fly over different continents. Please steer clear from this airlines, else you will loose your peace of mind plus you will starve, probably you might get some vouchers as compensation of your starvation and lip service from their customer service agents. I feel these kind of airlines cannot be competent and hence their business. It makes them one of worst airline to fly . Vegetarian just be alert that they would call your meal preferences as very special dietary need, as you don't eat dead animals however you may be vegetarian from your birth which is nothing special. This airline is hardly educated enough to even respect vegetarian customers. They don't deserve our business. Just avoid by all means if you do not want too loose your peace of mind.
Njcpa31
Ridgefield,#3Author of original report
Wed, October 31, 2007
Once again, thank you both very much for your comments. Tips from frequent travellers like yourselves are very handy. No question that customers should always act respectfully and calmly to company agents regularly. In fact, I am a huge proponent of your quote "honey traps more flies...," however the stress levels that rose in this situation (and rise everyday in airports across the country) are commonplace. Again, I just feel like airline (and airport) personnel acknolwedge that a function of their job is having have to deal with (and diffuse) customers that scream, curse, etc at them because something happened. Cases where customers become uncontrollable is one situation, but these personnel need to be able to calmly handle irate customers. As the infamous Hyman Roth stated, "Michael, this is the lfie that we have chosen for ourselves." In his case, he couldn't get out of his profession, but these personnel have a choice, put up or shut up. It's a shame that we as consumers have to be the ones who modify our attitudes to appease those whom we are paying our hard earned income to. Again, customers who are a threat and cannot be diffused should be dealt with accordingly, but those who are upset need to be diffused by the customer service personnel. Thanks.
Karl
Clovis,#4Consumer Suggestion
Wed, October 31, 2007
I don't know your family and am hearing only one side of the story but screaming at the gate agent rarely accomplishes anything. You are right about the lack of "customer Service" evidenced by airlines nowdays. I used to fly extensively - at least once every week or two -for 20 years and after deregulation everything changed. New budget airlines appeared on the scene and the majors had to compete by lowering fares and cutting amenities. American for instance uses automated check in machines solely to cut down on the number of counter personnel. Tempers are very touchy on people who don't know whether or not they will be employed next month. My impression of airline personnel with the exception of Southwest is that they are pretty formal. They do what is required and not much more. Planes are full -luggage is lost -planes are delayed - flights are cancelled -and it doesn't help matters to have passengers scream at them or curse at them which I've noticed more and more over the last 8 or 10 years. I try and be calm, very polite, and I sympathize with the counter agents and gate personnel. I usually then get what I want. Gate and counter agents have a lot of latitude as to what they can offer passengers and irate passengers end up sleeping on the floor someplace. Most instances of non-help comes from the customer's attitude, not the agent's. The cart incidents were definately wrong. I would direct a letter to the Airport Authority and complain. In all my years of travel I have never seen a cart not stop for someone who was elderly. A cart can also be arranged at the departure gate for the next airport if a connection is required. A wheelchair can be requested as well. My mother, in her 90's and perfectly ambulatory, always requested a wheelchair when she had a close connection.
James
New York,#5Consumer Suggestion
Wed, October 31, 2007
.....your major complaint is with the cart people - which I certainly understand. However, are you aware that they are not employed by the airline? They are under contract to the airport, not any given airline. So, you were upset about that, and by your own admission, started your experience with Northworst by screaming at them. Trust me, at that point, your fate was already decided. Something about catching more flies with honey ?????? And, were it not for your own property (backpack) causing you problems, you would have made the flight. Furthermore, it appears to me that the airline itself was pretty much business as usual. They issued a final boarding call, they paged all passengers not yet checked in, etc., etc., and then they closed the flight. And it's closing flights that causes more customers to be angry than almost anything else. Like it or not, that plane is filled with people that allowed enough time to get there, get checked in, and board accordingly, yet there is almost someone who thinks the plane should be held for one person - or in your case two. Not to mention that the paperwork has been completed, the passenger manifest is done, etc. Your experience is why I (almost) never put myself on the last flight of the day to anywhere. You need options at that point if you don't want to spend the night. So, I would suggest that everyone look at the full schedule and plan accordingly in the future. Finally, in the future, keep your composure and let the airline try to help you. I've found this to work well in most every case. I dropped from Platinum to Gold on Delta this year, and have literally been all over the world with them, and I assure you that playing nice will get you to your destination much more quickly. Good luck!
Njcpa31
Ridgefield,#6Author of original report
Tue, October 30, 2007
First, thank you for taking the time to read the entire comment. I appreciate it. You are right in that my family are non-frequent fliers and this was more than likely their first visit to the Minneapolis airport. The delayed landing into the airport and the fact that they could not hold the plane was absolutely not Northwest's fault. However, the manner in which Northwest treated my family in this situation was completely unacceptable. My whole intention with this report and frustration is the lack of customer compassion that was provided by NWA. Their fault or not, it's about how NWA assisted them in resolving their situation - doing what passengers pay a lot of money for. Let's start with the three passenger carts drove by and would not stop to help them make it to their gate. Maybe they were on break, but the non-compassionate remarks and the fact that one driver did not even look at my family as she drove by shows a lack of caring about them at least attempting to make it to the gate. The NWA personnel at the gate who coldly indicated that there was nothing that they could do, again demonstrates this lack of compassion. The Supervisor who refused to speak with my Father is another example. I don't care if the Supervisor or personnel experience this type of thing all the time - this is about exceeding customer expectations. They accept their compensation, gladly or not, from NWA - it's time they start earning it by treating customers with respect and dignity. If they are fed up and are not in the mood to deal with customer problems, leave and work somewhere that makes you happy. NWA also needs to take appropriate action(s) with disgruntled employees. Again, thank you for taking the time to read my posting this and respond.
Karl
Clovis,#7Consumer Comment
Tue, October 30, 2007
You must not be frequent travellers. Minneapolis St Paul is a large airport with many concourses. Smart travellers allow no less than two hours between planes at places like this. The " legal" connecting time - sometimes as little as 45 minutes - is ridiculous. Next time allow sufficient time for a connection and you will probably make your flight. It was not Northwest's fault.