I am beyond words right now with our suppliers. Great customer service seems to no longer be a priority with airlines, hoteliers, tour operators, etc. My worst experience so far is directly related to the recent merge between JetBlue and American Airlines.
I had a client who wanted to change his reservation with JetBlue. So together we pulled up the reservation, but instead of where you would normally change a flight, there was a message stating that online changes couldn't be made at this time so to call reservations. So we called. After holding for 80 minutes, we were disconnected. So we decided to text. The text reply we received back stated that they were sorry but they couldn't accept changes via text so we needed to call in.
Feeling frustrated, I suggested we just cancel the reservation online and rebook. Seemed easy enough, but when we tried to cancel, it now said your reservation cannot be canceled. What?! So then I said let's just book another reservation for the time you want, which we found on AA, and we did that. The next thing we know they canceled his AA reservation, stating it was a double booking as he had one reservation on JetBlue and another on AA. Now we were both irritated.
I then asked for his middle name so we could rebook it again on AA using his middle name. The reservation was held. Meanwhile, we now had a reservation that needed to be canceled. I advised him to go ahead and cancel by going to the AA or the JetBlue counter since he could not cancel the old reservation online. He finally was able to do so in person.
This got me wondering. What would happen if a client didn't have additional resources to pay for another airfare they needed? Are we now in a place where we don't have access to customer service unless we actually go to the airport? I'm thinking clients are going to pay the price of this most recent merger.
My next experience. Royal Caribbean canceled a client's cruise the night before the cruise was departing. We thought everything was fine as we already called to confirm there wouldn't be any cancellations. This client waited an entire year to plan the trip, only to find out the night before the cruise is canceled. Now what? To find an alternative vacation last minute means the rates are going to be astronomical.
While most clients have shown patience, at the end of the day we're representing these entities. It's time they step up to the plate, especially when it comes to their customer service.
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