A letter I wrote to them:
Dear NWA Customer Care Representative:
I am writing to express my deep dissatisfaction for the services I received from your company. I have never before been so frustrated, disappointed, and angry with
I flew to Boston on Thursday, December 18, for an interview at Harvard Medical School. My returning flight was scheduled for Saturday, December 19, at 7:00 AM with a connecting flight in Indianapolis; however, the first leg of the flight was canceled in the late afternoon of Friday due to the coming snow storm.
I attempted to rebook the flight online as it appeared to be an option (with a “rebook” button next to the canceled flight on my itinerary), but this did not work. I then called the Northwest Airline Reservations number, where I was put on hold for over half an hour. This I can understand—I know that there must have been a great influx of calls from customers trying to reconfigure their travel plans due to the poor travel conditions. What I do not understand is how, after over half an hour of Christmas jingles and elevator music, the phone then rings... And rings, and rings, yet never gets answered. I then attempted to call again, waited for another 30 to 45 minutes, and the phone disconnects as it begins to ring again. I called again, waited another 30-40 minutes, and was finally connected to an agent. At this point, she tells me that there are no available flights out to Minneapolis until Tuesday. Obviously, this is unacceptable to me, so I ask to be transferred to a Delta flight; after all, Delta and NWA are now the same company. She tells me that this is not an option, for it is not NWA policy to perform such transfers due to weather. I understand the idea of “red tape, ” but I nonetheless remain extremely frustrated when companies, large or small, allow bureaucratic idiocy to undermine and cause them to lose sight of their purpose: to serve the customer (and hence, make money). However, I accept this—after all, it is not her fault—and she luckily finds me a seat on a flight for Monday instead, but suggests that I continue calling to see if anything opens up before then.
I do this thrice: twice later that night, and once more the next day, but to no avail. All three times, I spoke with agents who attempted to put me on flights to Indianapolis (my flight that was canceled was to Indianapolis) without realizing that I had a connecting flight to Minneapolis. This would take several minutes to clear up. My third call was met with a very rude woman who was short and impatient. Firstly, she mentioned that she would try to put me on a Delta flight. “You can put me on Delta flights now? I thought it wasn’t your policy, ” I said. “Now it is, ” she replied. Great, that’s convenient. Secondly, she moved me to a flight to Indianapolis and then realized her mistake only after she confirmed with me. She then found me another flight connecting through Atlanta but arriving very late Sunday night to Minneapolis, and which could also be subject to cancellation due to the bad weather in Minnesota. I wanted a little bit of time to think about this, to ask her questions, but I did not want to hang up as I did not want to wait another 30-40 minutes on hold upon calling back. When I told her this, your representative said, “I understand, ” but remained acting rushed and rude. Feeling the pressure to make a decision, I declined the transfer to this new flight and said thank you. Then, she hung up on me. While I can appreciate that she was indeed busy, I feel that: 1) she would not have been busy if your company had been appropriately staffed to handle such call volumes, which would be easily predicted given the poor weather conditions in the Midwest and Northeast regions, and 2) Customer service 101, and common sense, dictates courteous and respectful treatment of your customer, a.K.A. Your money source.
I must also mention that during the course of my conversation with this agent, I asked if I could attempt coming to the airport as a stand-by passenger on Sunday so that I did not have to lose my reservation for Monday. She said that while I could do this, there would be no guarantee that I would get on a flight that day. (Yes, I think that is part of the definition of “stand-by passenger.”) However, she did not offer to put me on any stand-by lists or waitlists. And since she hung up on me so quickly, I did not have to option to ask her any further questions.
On Sunday, I went to the airport attempting to stand-by for any flight throughout the day. The NWA line was long and busy, and there were three agents working. They constantly apologized for being understaffed. When I was finally helped (amidst loud, angry, and other dissatisfied customers), it took the representative nearly 15 minutes to come to her conclusion. Not that she was busy helping other guests at the time—she just seemed to be confused by your computer systems and had to ask for help several times. At any rate, the result was that all stand-by lists were full and waitlists were closed. I should have expected that; there must have been hundreds of passengers in my similar situation who were frantically trying to get home. However, I was angry that I was never offered a position on any such lists.
The incompetence demonstrated by your employees, from top to bottom and beginning to end, has been outstanding. I, and I venture to say that this is true for a majority of your passengers, never choose Northwest Airlines based on your great customer service on or off the aircraft.instead, it is usually a matter of cost-effectiveness. I say this to make the point that my expectations for your services are, frankly, not very high. And yet, you as a company have managed to completely demolish any respect or faith I have had in your services.
It is no wonder then that you have failed as a company and that Delta has absorbed you. Luckily so; after my experience, I will make sure that my family, friends, and I will do everything possible to avoid Northwest Airlines, despite the occasional “cost-effectiveness” that you have offered in the past. Delta is now burdened with the great legacy of awful service that you have left behind, and I can only hope that they can overcome this and offer better service to their newly obtained customers.
Thank you for your time and consideration in reading this letter.
Sincerely,
Catherine
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