

Southwest has built an impeccable reputation by putting customers first and by making sure their employees are content and financially secure. In addition to its commercial and financial success, Southwest Airlines is known for its excellent customer service. Southwest Airlines serves over 11 million passengers a month, provides service to 45 states and hasn’t seen a red balance sheet since the Nixon presidency. Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert and New York Times bestselling author. No company is perfect for every customer, but Southwest’s customer-focused system can offer lessons for us all. For those who do like what Southwest has to offer, many are intensely loyal customers. But, Southwest does offer a very specific brand promise, and it delivers on that promise. Some passengers don’t like its numbered boarding pass system that doesn’t allow for reserved seats, or that it does not offer a meal service. I’ve written and talked about Southwest Airlines before, and I acknowledge that it may not be the airline for everyone. Looking at it that way, the cost of replacing broken luggage could actually be a gain. Southwest knows that the cost of offering new luggage is repaid in happy customers who will be likely to choose their airline again. Often, the time spent and the cost to go through this process are simply not worth the trouble. Otherwise, the passenger has to go through the hassle of taking the suitcase to be repaired, submitting the receipt to the airline and waiting for reimbursement. A passenger with expensive luggage would likely opt to have repairs done, but most of the time, replacement would be the most sensible choice. C onsider The Real Cost – How much do you think it costs Southwest to replace damaged luggage? The replacement luggage is not the highest-priced on the market, but it’s decent luggage.

They formulated a customer-focused solution and made it an integral part of their system. Southwest Airlines took ownership of the inevitable problem and has a plan in place. But many problems can be predicted and planned for, as in the case of damaged luggage. Unfortunately, especially with airlines, there are a wide variety of potential problems, some of which are out of their control such as bad weather or heavy air traffic. Make It Easy – Ideally, doing business with any company should be hassle-free.The challenge is to have a system in place – along with well-trained employees – for those times when things don’t go right. It’s easy to maintain a great reputation when things are going well. But this experience showed me that it goes even deeper than the well-known advantages.
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To say I was surprised is an understatement.
