How to Humanize Travel Again

There are no tweets or Facebook fan pages that can make up for the actual experience of travel.

Fresh from a trip to Europe, I'm reminded of the importance of customer care to help humanize business once again. Here are ten ideas for your consideration.

1. Use the information you have to surprise your customers pleasantly, for example giving them the forms in the right language. This may seem common sense...

2. Answer the toll free customer service/reservation number, or stop publicizing it.

3. Understand that having a fun promotional account on Twitter will actually damage your brand if you make no effort to @ reply to your customer inquiries (note that often they have already exhausted normal channels provided by you).

4. Start thinking that your super powers are those of making the customer feel respected rather than a hassle.

5. Communicate, communicate, communicate - it costs you nothing extra, it earns you business. If you wait until the line forms, you failed to be proactive.

6. Imagine what happens when a new entrant who gives a damn takes the market you take for granted.

7. Empathize with the owner of the bag you're inspecting by throwing its contents in a heap on the table, it could be you.

8. Look the person you're frisking in the eyes, he's still a human being, just like you. And you might learn a thing or two about them by having an actual interaction.

9. Remind yourself that customers are the life of your business. Somehow, when it comes to air travel, this doesn't seem to make an impression.

10. Consider what happens every time any one group starts behaving like the other doesn't have human rights. I throw this in for good measure as the customs agent who took my documents seemed to relish his position of power.

***

A couple of days ago, we remarked how @AirFranceUS Twitter stream is just a promotion after the other, while @Lufthansa_USA showed good balance of information and conversation. In fact, Lufthansa @ replied to my tweet within five minutes, while I never received a response from AirFrance.

There are many more things we could add to the list. What ideas are on top of your list?

[image by Kvatch]

Comments

[Adam Needles]

Valeria, this comment said it all to me:

9. Remind yourself that customers are the life of your business. Somehow, when it comes to air travel, this doesn't seem to make an impression.

So true.

[Charley Hampton]

Your suggestions make sense for any business.

When it comes to air travel, though, I find that staying present, having no expectations, and accepting that you can only control your attitude - so keep it positive! - make a huge difference with how stressed out I get when traveling by air.

[Christa M. Miller]

"8. Look the person you're frisking in the eyes, he's still a human being, just like you. And you might learn a thing or two about them by having an actual interaction."

I wonder, actually, how many would-be terrorists or smugglers or other criminals would be able to handle this? If the eyes are the windows to the soul, and "behavioral profiling" is possible (it actually is done in Israel), could suspects be more easily identified this way?

True -- agents would need training on how to separate those with bad intentions from those who are simply uncomfortable with personal contact. And it would have to be just one part of a long string of factors adding up to the decision to detain.

Ultimately, though, physical clues -- like products, training, content -- are not enough to create strong leads... the extra step of personal, true interaction is.

[Bethany Deines]

Here's my tips for the TSA Agents: Smile. It's a friendly gesture. There's no need to treat people like criminals or bark orders at everyone. We know the drill and the rudeness only makes it that much more of a hassle. Is a simple smile or friendly gesture too much to ask for?

[Ivan Walsh]

The key is to make people's life easier.

So, for example, if their flight is about to be cancelled, eg snow chaos, send them a text with the tel # of trusted hotels where they can get accommodation. Maybe you can go one step further and arrange some type of discount.

Info isn't enough - there needs to be some benefit to the customer.

Ivan
Beijing, China

[Keith Soifer]

Every once in a blu moon, you will encounter a TSA agent, or airline employee with a sense of humor.

You can be authoritative / professional AND have a sense of humor.

Those that do, are the tru professionals and have pride in their important work and themselves.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Adam - somehow that never seems to be part of the conversation when traveling. It almost feels like a package delivery system and not a people intensive business.

@Charley - people pay good money to get on a flight. I agree that staying positive helps with stress, but there should be a minimum of service associated with the transaction. Just saying.

@Christa - training personnel to be personal and interact with people based upon behavior could be the difference between real security and security theater.

@Bethany - TSA agents must hate their jobs to be so rude to people. I say let's dismantle the whole thing. Fire the agency and create something in its stead with less bureaucracy and entitlement.

@Ivan - that would be marketing, a novelty. Many travel companies continue to associate promotions of what they've got with marketing, instead of reaching out to make the experience convenient overall.

@Keith - a sense of humor is a tonic for all situations - and possibly for a longer life. Pride in one's job, now that would be a welcome return to values.

[Andrew @ WeBuildYourBlog.com]

Communicate, communicate, communicate - I agree that it is always good to be available to communicate to the customers. I think it is really important to be available and also approachable.

[Julie]

Get rid of voice prompted phone menus. These just make no sense for the travel industry. As I'm in an airport, trying to contact an airline because there's no agent at the airline's desk, there's so much ambient noise I can never actually get to the option on the menu that I need. Have a human answer the phone.

[Ann Handley]

Love this post, Valeria.. and it's spot on.

But really what inspired me to comment was the graphic... god, that's JUST how it feels when you are traveling by air these days, isn't it? Priceless.

[Ari Herzog]

With #2, the key for me is to answer the phone period and to either have an answer on the spot or be able to place the customer on hold to get the answer or to transfer to someone who can answer it.

It annoys me to no end, and this is not inclusive to the travel industry, when the agent is clueless and I am forced to hang up and try other means to get that answer.

Great post!

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Andrew - sometimes I don't know what else to add to a comment ;)

@Julie - indeed. One day I'll also tell the story of the PR agency that contacted me after I wrote a travel-related story to tout their client's system that sends text messages to customers to then never respond to me when I showed interest. Another not so good way to conduct business, don't you think?

@Ann - glad you enjoyed. When I saw that I image I was in heaven. Exactly how I envisioned the thing going down!

@Ari - thank you. A high praise coming from you. That's when you search Twitter, then find the AirFrance account where not one, but two people ignore your tweets. Their names are Sophie and Marc. Well done guys, you now have 5k followers and you have not had a conversation with any of them.