CIG: Denver Public Relations, training, graphic design, research and proposal writing

Vegas vaca (vay-kay) communique

Which do you value more: good communication or good customer service? Seems like an easy question, right? Well, on a recent weekend excursion I experienced a lack of both, making me realize even more how valuable these assets are to an organization.

It was Thursday afternoon and I had Vegas running through my veins! I was completely checked out and my fiance and I were in full-on vacation mode!

Everything was going smoothly, until it came time to see what gate we were at and we saw what everyone dreads at the airport. “Denver to Las Vegas . . . 7: 05 p.m. . . Delayed . . . 8:40 p.m.”
Still in high-hopes, we headed to the gate, only to realize that it has been delayed an additional 20 minutes. Being in vacation-mode, I calmly walk up to the desk to ask the gate clerk the reason for the delay.

“The weather from a connecting flight is delaying other flights but I am not certain that is the particular reason for your flight’s delay,” she said.

Now here was communication/customer service error number one. The internal team must always be “in the loop,” so they can communicate effectively to the customers.

Another hour passes and no word on the delay, until the phone rings. It’s the airline calling to let us know that the flight is delayed again, by another 20 minutes, totaling a delay of more than two hours - still with no explanations. My hopes dashed, I waited along with the rest of the passengers in the terminal, as we collectively started coming to the realization that Vegas was not in our near future.

Then finally, after a three-hour delay, a voice booms over the intercom:

“All those traveling to Las Vegas this evening, you will be happy to know that your plane has arrived. We will be cleaning up the plane and boarding as quickly as possible.”

My heart is racing as we line up near the front of the gate.

Vegas is only a few hours away!

But, come on, you know it just can’t be that easy.

Sure enough, now my phone rings. Another delay!

Communication and customer service error number two. We were standing in front of the gate with the flight attendants, the gate clerk and the pilots, yet we still heard about our flight from an automated voice in our cell phones? Please…

As someone in the communication biz, I have to respect that they are using all the “tools,” but as a customer, I truly value the power of face-to face interaction.

So this comes back to my question, which is more valuable: communication or customer service? I submit that one cannot be accomplished without the other.

In the end, the delays totaled four hours, making our landing time just before 1 a.m.

Which, lucky for us, is still early in Vegas!

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