Business Travel
Robert Jolles

Self Serve or Avoid Serving?

 

Isn't technology amazing? Today I jumped on the internet, checked in on my flight, changed seats, and printed out a boarding pass… and that's before I even left my house. My question is, when does technology stop serving us, and become an excuse to provide us with less service?

When I showed up at the airport today, I needed to perform one, simple task. Although I'm a Premier Executive on United, US Airway, United's partner, doesn't see me as a partner at all. They see me as a "Zone 6 guy who loads last, struggles to find space for his bag, and belongs in a center seat in the back of the plane." No problem; All I have to do is to switch my United number with my US Airway number and I'm back to being treated as a premier passenger with a "1" on my tickets.

Unfortunately, with all the technology around, that's becoming more and more difficult to do. That's because if you haven't noticed, when the technology comes in – the service goes out.

"I do love technology, I do love technology. I do, I do, I do, love technology!"

I just didn't like the technology today. When I went to perform that simple, basic number switch on my ticket, instead of being greeted with smiling US Airway faces, (I can dream can't I?), I was greeted by a sea of stoic kiosks. Performing a switch like that on a kiosk would be nice, but they are only able to allow you to add your US Airway number, not switch that number to United's. Unfortunately you actually need service, and if or when you do, you'll experience what I experienced. There just aren't many people left anymore.

Although I saw a couple of US Airway employees standing behind some of the kiosk machines, they seemed almost confused when I told them, "I think I need an actual person to help me." I kid you not when I tell you one of the two people I was addressing actually looked around behind them. I could only assume they were looking for a "real person."

What I learned was these were not real people according to US Airway. They were just there to help with luggage. There was one real person, but they pulled the old, "Finish with the customer you are working with, never look up, never make eye contact, lock up and leave" trick. I decided to go through security and go to the gate where at least as of this writing, a "real person" checks you in on your flight. Of course, there was a healthy line.

Lesson: If you haven't thought about your business and how you or your clients interface with technology, please do. Even the beloved email has a time and a place. How many of us have thrown emails at clients we know we should be calling or seeing in person? I'm not a kiosk. I'm a real person.