Is United Airlines getting a customer service upgrade?

You’d think reports of superior customer service from an airline like United would be random — a one-off for a carrier that consistently gets inferior scores.

Maybe not.

We know that the folks at United who work with super-elite Global Services members were sent to the Disney Institute, which offers courses on ways to improve customer service. United-watchers know that Barbara Higgins, a former Disney employee who is now in charge of customer service at the airline, is behind many of these positive changes.

But in the last few months, I’ve seen evidence that these improvements have trickled down to the people on the front lines of customer service. All the way to people like Rachel Schachter, a camp counselor who wrote to United with the following concern.

My colleague traveled with your airline on 6/11 on the itinerary below, from SAN-SFO-PDX to work as a counselor at our summer camp near Astoria, OR. His connecting flight in SFO was delayed and he missed his connection to PDX by just two minutes. As a result, he was rerouted through Seattle, arrived several hours late and was unable to take the shuttle that we had reserved for all the staff to come from PDX to our camp. He had to spend the night in Portland and fly to Astoria the next morning.

Our camp is a not-for-profit organization for children, and in light of the current economic situation we have very little extra funds, and we had not planned to pay an extra $75 for Mr. Max to fly to Astoria on Seaport Air. Because his inability to arrive at PDX on time was the fault of United, we would be extremely grateful if you would refund the $75 for Mr. Max’s flight to Astoria, OR.

Now, to be clear, there’s nothing in United’s contract of carriage that says it has to offer a refund in a situation like this. And Mr. Max was not a Global Services member, nor was he what would be considered a “premium” passenger.

But two days later, she received the following response:

I am sorry to hear [Mr. Max] was delayed from San Diego to San Francisco in which he then had to overnight due to missing his connection to Portland. We realize the importance of getting our guests to their destinations safely and on time, we are very sorry to have let you down on this occasion.

A check in the amount of $75 will be issued under separate cover, directly in your name which you can transfer to Camp Young. When we issue a check, an individual name must be listed on the check instead of an organization or business.

Also, for the inconvenience Mr. Max incurred in having to overnight in San Francisco, we are enclosing an electronic travel certificate as goodwill that can be used towards a future flight on United or United Express.

As a valued guest with United, we appreciate your business and hope you will give us another opportunity to serve you under more pleasant circumstances.

Great job, United.

To be completely fair, Schachter sent her first email to Higgins, not to the main United customer service address. (I advise people with a legitimate grievance to start at the front door and only escalate the complaint if they’re ignored.) But something tells me, based on the many recent reports I’ve received from happy customers, that she might have had the same response if she went through normal channels.

I hope this trend continues.

  • Jeff

    If they are improving things, I haven’t seen it. Glad things worked out for you.

    UA caused me to miss a funeral by combining a flights (canceling mine) in order to reduce expenses and increase profits.

    I have called, Twittered, emailed and faxed and have had no suitable response. The person on the phone (who was nice) wouldn’t let me speak to a supervisor.

    I hope they prove me wrong, but to date I have not been impressed (heck, even satisfied).

    PS If anyone from @unitedairlines reads this, they can reach me at @jcreynolds

  • bmvaughn

    Nice to see such a response – but it is funny that the response suggests that the pax spent the night in SFO when the original posting says PDX.

  • Consumer Equalizer

    Certainly if the CEO is worth anything at all, this needs to be made the rule, not the exception, and then needs to be made into a competitive leverage where the press quotes it and beats up on other airlines for not doing it.

    Change doesn’t open overnight, of course, but I hope this is the direction they are going. We need it!

  • waggie

    I’m really glad to hear that they made it right for this customer.

    They have rarely done the right thing in my dealings with them. i fly out of sfo so it makes sense for me to fly United. In all honesty, they have some of the most rude agents i have ever dealt with. Even though i am 1k, i feel the service is better on SWA.

    Great blog and thanks for sharing.

  • Scott

    Flights don’t get “combined” to save money. This results in an aircraft not being where it is needed to fly another route, flight crews and attendants not being where they are needed, etc. There must have been a mechanical or other such problem resulting in an aircraft not being available. It sucks, but it happens. Of course, being able to blame your problem on someone else probably makes you feel better!

  • http://United Marie

    How do I contact Barbara Higgins at United C.S.

  • Dr. Combs

    I think I have noticed more efforts. I was delayed leaving IAD by 5 hours due to storm – not ULA fault – and I am glad that we stayed on the ground after the plane disappeared – and they offered a voucher without asking. As luck would have it, on the way back, I was delayed in OED because the plane was delayed at origin. I wrote a note to ULA and, to my surprise, received a prompt response and they offered additional voucher – even though I did not ask for that – I was simply “complaining” about the poor attitude of the Red Carpet rep that evening.

    I hope the efforts continue!!

  • Kathy L

    Maybe I’ve just been lucky, but other than a few less than friendly flight attendants, I’ve had excellent service from United for over 25 years! Life’s not perfect…stuff happens and it’s how you learn to deal with it that can make the difference.

  • David

    In-flight crews are zombies! Bitter demoralized and hanging on for what’s left of a paycheck. Glenn Tilton and his goons gotta go! United first and biz class now a joke!

  • John Lee

    Although I am glad it worked out for your friend, I must say my experience with United is not as satisfactory. As a Premier Executive member, and travel business class, I still get treated like a third class citizen by their flight staff (perhaps me being Asian makes them assume I was kicked up to business as matter of luck?) When my transferring flight was cancelled in Frankfurt on my way to SFO from Vienna, they weren’t much of help. In fact, they made me feel like it was my fault. that the flight was cancelled.

    They should learn the concept of service from some of the Asian carriers, like JAL, KAL, SA, CP, etc. They know how to value their customers…

  • Rob Roman

    Here’s the deal. UAL doesent send the frontline to the Disney camp. They’re sending management to these programs, some multiple visits. The same management team that treats the frontline employees like crap. It’s to the point where the frontline employees are treating each other like crap and in front of the customers, as I’ve witnessed on a number of occasions.
    UAL management needs to step up and rid themselves of the severly damaged bagggage then, repair and take good care of what’s left. Value your employees so they want to keep working and will value the customers in return. They’ve done it before in the late 80′s when I used to hear their employees had the power to make decisions that were good for the customer and the airline. Now they’re afraid and frustrated because most of the service comes by way of a kiosk or foreign based employees.

  • http://Hotmail David Farnham

    It may be a small thing, but on a recent United Express flight GSO-IAD (about 50 minutes airtime), with a full plane (54 pax), the sole flight attendant not only managed to serve everyone who waned it a beverage but also addressed at least the elite FFers by name and thanked them for flying United!

  • John Kolb

    Interesting to see the range of comments. As a GS, I may not be the typical case, but have had a number of great service moments in the last 6-8 months, including a wonderful anniversary trip. Yes, there are still crabby attendants, but there are the same on AA, CO, etc…overall, even on the express flights, I get a thank you when I board, and frequently the same from the flight crew. When things go wrong – and they will – those little things can make a big difference.

    Keep reporting the bad service, and saying thanks for the good service! It helps.

  • http://ELLIOTT Kathleen W.

    I have had , I think, a good United experience. My husband had a flight delay returning from Kansas City to SNA (Orange County) and received a free RT voucher. (We didn’t think the delay was excessive). I decided to use the free trip to attend a wedding in VA. I picked the flights that I wanted from their list of dep/arrs but I could not get the website to let me enter the voucher. I called them instead. I apologized and stated that I did not want to pay the phone fee as I had tried to book online. He told me that I didn’t have to pay it. I also said that I had not chosen the cheapest flights but had chosen ones that were most convenient to me. The difference was from $285 to $420. I thought I might have to pay the difference, but no. We usually fly out of LAX because it is almost always cheaper but SNA is so much more convenient. No problem, they honored my free voucher as if I were a most valued paying customer. A good thing!