Come On American Airlines!

You try to do something nice...

I'm not scared of flying, I'm just scared of being on the flight itself for hours at a time. And to top it off, I consciously choose to fly one of the most customer-unfriendly airlines, American!

Why? Because of their frequent flyer program. I'm an American Advantage junkie. I locked myself into it 20 years ago and I can't seem to tear myself away. Even though I know it's bad for me.

Is choosing your preferred airline like choosing a religion? Or a political party? I think you are born into your airline of choice? I'm pretty sure I fly American because my dad flew American.

Two weeks ago I flew to New York for a quick trip. I could have flown Virgin Airlines and gotten the "comfy seats" and the personal television and the groovy mood lighting for exactly the same price as on American. But the crack cocaine that is my frequent flyer account said, nah, don't choose comfort, choose miles. (Miles incidentally that are basically impossible to use when I want)

But something surprising happened on this particular trip. I enjoyed myself.

I sat way in the back of the plane, third to last row. I wish I could generalize and tell you that if you always sit in the back of the plane, the attendants will treat you better. But I can't. I know it's not true. But for this particular trip, Trish and Denise treated me like a king. They joked with me. They doted on me. They moved me to my own row without me even asking. And when the drink cart came back and I asked if they had anything "sweet" and "desserty" Trish slipped me a tiny bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream. Then they brought me two cookies from First Class.

I was so impressed that I asked the attendants for their names (Trish and Denise as I stated previously), and I told them I would be sending a note to American about how well I was treated.

Now I don't know how many people send American positive comments. Believe me, I've never done it before but have been tempted many times to send them hate mail. But I'd like to give American some advice if they would like to encourage more pro vs. con email.

1. Make it easy for me to find on your website. I had to dig deep to find how to send you a note to thank you. Maybe if you made this stand out us frequent flyers will actually want to say thank you more often.
2. Respond with something more than a generic response. I know you don't have time to respond to everyone, but for the love of Benji, cross reference your comments to the sender's account and realize that a double platinum customer that rarely reaches out, is probably someone you want to respond to personally.
3. Don't try to upsell me when I take the time to write you a friggin' note. I'm getting re-pissed off as I type this. If you want to reward me, give me some extra upgrade points or something. Don't tell me that I can buy an American gift card for my friends and family.

Jeez, this is common sense and easy!

January 28, 2009
Dear Mr. Weintraub:


Thank you for sending us such nice sentiments via our Customer Relations online form. Positive feedback means a lot to us as it helps us pinpoint areas of our service where we excel so we can improve our overall service.

Again, thank you. We regard every contact from a customer as a welcome opportunity to listen and learn. It is a privilege to have you as an American Airlines customer.

Consider giving them the gift of travel in 2009! Check out our American Airlines gift cards at http://www.aa.com/givetravel.


Sincerely,

Sean Bentel
Customer Relations
American Airlines