Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Apologies in advance for using the family blog as a soap-box. I don't know about you, but AirTran Flight 175 really got to me. I've joked to family members in the past about how the back of the plane is probably the safest place to be in a crash, and nobody booted me from a plane. Even if they did, I would expect them to immediately understand their mistake, especially after having been cleared by the FBI. Not AirTran. They will be receiving the following rant shortly.
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Bob Fornaro
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President
AirTran Airways
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
Dear Mr. Fornaro,
I have had the pleasure of flying AirTran Airways many times. I have always found your company’s in-flight service to be excellent and your prices very competitive. Your airline has always taken me where I needed to go, on-time and in comfort. Because of these characteristics, AirTran has always been at the top of our list when my family plans a trip out of state.
Therefore, it is with feelings of regret and disappointment that I am writing to you today. Due to what I feel was extremely poor judgment in the case of the Irfan family’s reservations on Flight 175, I will no longer be purchasing any additional tickets from AirTran.
This decision will most likely end up inconveniencing me more so than you. It will leave me with fewer options in the marketplace for travel, and I may end up paying more to another airline than I would have paid to AirTran for equivalent travel. The percentage of my discretionary income that I stand to lose with this decision, although small, is significantly much higher than your potential lost revenue without me as a customer.
Regardless, I feel it is important that customers/potential investors provide feedback to senior management regarding their company’s performance. In the case of Mr. Irfan and his family, your company earned about a “D” in Ethics and Core Values. This is far below the threshold for me to continue to purchase your services. If I may offer a successful CEO such as yourself some “armchair” management advice, what Mr. Ifran’s situation indicated to me is that your company’s culture is in need of your scrutiny.
In the case of Flight 175, the decision to place too much value on the fear of a few narrow-minded passengers was symptomatic of a company staffed by employees who are unable, or unwilling to be compassionate towards Mr. Irfan and his family. This type of compassion, the ability to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, forms the foundation of excellent customer service and ethical corporate behavior. Without the right company culture, it becomes too easy to ignore the need to screen employees on their core values and the company is quickly saturated with employees whose values don’t align with those of the company or its leaders.
Particularly troubling to me was AirTran’s initial decision not to help this family find alternative travel arrangements at no additional cost. This was widely reported on and my understanding is that it was only after significant public outcry that AirTran decided to waive additional fees or service charges that might be typically necessary in order to book another flight. In my humble opinion, the right thing to do would have been for AirTran employees to heed the council of the FBI that Mr. Ifran and his family represented no threat, and to immediately begin to compensate for this embarrassing situation with an overwhelming display of compassion, customer service and humility. From what I understand, that was not AirTran’s first response.
Contrast this behavior to that of a company with the right culture, in which each employee knows, instinctively, what the values of the company mean to his or her job duties and how they apply to each decision he or she makes throughout the course of a day. These companies are staffed by courageous employees, propelled by pure motives rather than fear, who aren’t afraid to admit their mistake quickly and move on to service recovery. The Management of these companies put a premium on “doing the right thing”, even if it is not particularly convenient or popular. This is where AirTran needs to be in order to earn me back as its customer.
I hope you find my thoughts on the matter useful, and I appreciate the opportunity to provide you with my feedback
Sincerely,
Michael J. Doyle
---------------------
Bob Fornaro
Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President
AirTran Airways
9955 AirTran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32827
Dear Mr. Fornaro,
I have had the pleasure of flying AirTran Airways many times. I have always found your company’s in-flight service to be excellent and your prices very competitive. Your airline has always taken me where I needed to go, on-time and in comfort. Because of these characteristics, AirTran has always been at the top of our list when my family plans a trip out of state.
Therefore, it is with feelings of regret and disappointment that I am writing to you today. Due to what I feel was extremely poor judgment in the case of the Irfan family’s reservations on Flight 175, I will no longer be purchasing any additional tickets from AirTran.
This decision will most likely end up inconveniencing me more so than you. It will leave me with fewer options in the marketplace for travel, and I may end up paying more to another airline than I would have paid to AirTran for equivalent travel. The percentage of my discretionary income that I stand to lose with this decision, although small, is significantly much higher than your potential lost revenue without me as a customer.
Regardless, I feel it is important that customers/potential investors provide feedback to senior management regarding their company’s performance. In the case of Mr. Irfan and his family, your company earned about a “D” in Ethics and Core Values. This is far below the threshold for me to continue to purchase your services. If I may offer a successful CEO such as yourself some “armchair” management advice, what Mr. Ifran’s situation indicated to me is that your company’s culture is in need of your scrutiny.
In the case of Flight 175, the decision to place too much value on the fear of a few narrow-minded passengers was symptomatic of a company staffed by employees who are unable, or unwilling to be compassionate towards Mr. Irfan and his family. This type of compassion, the ability to put yourself in your customer’s shoes, forms the foundation of excellent customer service and ethical corporate behavior. Without the right company culture, it becomes too easy to ignore the need to screen employees on their core values and the company is quickly saturated with employees whose values don’t align with those of the company or its leaders.
Particularly troubling to me was AirTran’s initial decision not to help this family find alternative travel arrangements at no additional cost. This was widely reported on and my understanding is that it was only after significant public outcry that AirTran decided to waive additional fees or service charges that might be typically necessary in order to book another flight. In my humble opinion, the right thing to do would have been for AirTran employees to heed the council of the FBI that Mr. Ifran and his family represented no threat, and to immediately begin to compensate for this embarrassing situation with an overwhelming display of compassion, customer service and humility. From what I understand, that was not AirTran’s first response.
Contrast this behavior to that of a company with the right culture, in which each employee knows, instinctively, what the values of the company mean to his or her job duties and how they apply to each decision he or she makes throughout the course of a day. These companies are staffed by courageous employees, propelled by pure motives rather than fear, who aren’t afraid to admit their mistake quickly and move on to service recovery. The Management of these companies put a premium on “doing the right thing”, even if it is not particularly convenient or popular. This is where AirTran needs to be in order to earn me back as its customer.
I hope you find my thoughts on the matter useful, and I appreciate the opportunity to provide you with my feedback
Sincerely,
Michael J. Doyle
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