One Good Apple.

I traveled this weekend and once again was reminded about how there is nothing glamorous about traveling and how just one customer service experience can make all the difference.

US Airways was experiencing some major problems on Wednesday which as far as I could figure out was brought on by a domino effect of late flights and lots of rain.

I was unlucky enough to have my first flight delayed, which caused me to miss my connection (the last one of the day) and then I was put on standby to the nearest airport, Ft. Lauderdale. By some miracle I made it on the flight to Ft. Lauderdale. So did everyone else on standby as well as a mother and her three daughters who had to run from their earlier flight and just made their connection.

As I was waiting for my sister to come off the plane, I listened to a discussion this mother had with the airline representative at the gate in Ft. Lauderdale. They had made the flight but had lost their seats, so while they got on the plane they were scattered about the cabin. The woman was expressing her upset and concern about this situation. The airline rep. handled it like a pro explaining the procedure: yes if you aren't there 10 minutes prior to your flight your seats are opened up. The woman was particularly upset at how rude the airline representative had been at the previous gate. The Ft. Lauderdale representative listened, expressed her concern, and essentially talked the woman down. She made the woman feel like someone cared about her dilemma. She wasn't condescending, she didn't make any promises she couldn't keep, she even at one point defended the other representative. The woman was happy though, all she needed was someone to care about her hectic travel experience.

No one talked me down, but after listening to that conversation I was impressed. I had pretty much written off US Airways as completely incompetent, but this representative was an impressive example of their organization. It really didn't take much, just one good apple. She impressed me and this other traveler, imagine how many others she had impressed that day.