Airline Customer Service at its Very Best

It was only a few days ago that I posted this blog about five outstanding examples of airline industry providers stepping up and offering above and beyond service to passengers. At the time I also lamented how disappointing there were so few of these examples. Much to my elation, The Street posted five more examples of airline personnel who offered passengers so much more than we expect. This article, written by journalist Ted Reed, serves as another reminder that despite the stress – and trauma for some – that travel requires, sometimes there are extraordinary individuals who are out there to help us.

All ten of these examples of kindness are great reminders that each of us can do more to help others in the travel universe. They don’t have to be as grand as these wonderful examples, just something as simple as offering to help a family sit together on a plane, stopping to give someone directions, or proactively changing seats in a medical emergency. For others, it might mean offering your first class seat to a member of the military.

My husband, for example, offered his assistance to the flight leader when a group of Chinese businessmen were traveling on his flight. Seems there was an issue with the noodles in the meal but a combination of my husband’s limited Chinese and one of the businessmen’s broken English solved the problem. All it took was a few minutes of kindness. Nevertheless, the purser offered my husband quite a few airline miles for his efforts but that wasn’t necessary. I don’t know, maybe it’s just karma to us, maybe just the right thing to do to help other travelers.

Speaking of other travelers, the story that Jack Canfield, co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, relays in the Foreword of my book, Business Travel Success: How to Reduce Stress, Be More Productive and Travel with Confidence is extra-special, too. It’s the story of what one traveler did after a gate agent announced a flight delay — priceless!

I hope you can think about ways that maybe you can help someone else get through their travel nightmares and again, happy holidays to all readers and safe travels to every one of you.