Yesterday I flew to Las Vegas to attend the Adobe Summit conference. The last two years I’ve flown out early so I could go golfing with my Father-in-Law who lives out there before the conference starts and I’m heads down in work related activities. This year, my FIL wanted to take me to a place that required me to bring my clubs. Like all flights with oversized luggage, you hope nothing gets lost. Unfortunately, for me, my clubs didn’t make with me on my Southwest flight. I was leaving straight from the airport in Vegas to go play golf so you can imagine I was a little upset that my clubs were nowhere to be found, only to think about all the things I’d need to pay extra now (club rentals, balls, glove, shoes, etc). After confirming there was no more luggage coming out of the carousel I headed to file a claim. Here is where Southwest exceeded my expectations.
First, they said, we apologize for the inconvenience. Likely TSA held up the clubs as they open all of them for security purposes. OK, I can understand that. Then they told me they would pay for my rentals, two sleeves of balls, and $50 toward shoe rental/purchase. Just bring the receipts back on my way home and they would take care of it. Friendly, courteous and made what I thought was going to be a disappointing day. I came out early just to play golf. Additionally, if/when my clubs did arrive, they were going to deliver them to my hotel. While I was on the golf course, sure enough I got a phone call and email that my clubs arrived and they were taking them to my hotel.
Overall, Southwest made the experience better than it could have and exceeded my expectations. And I shared a little #LUV on Twitter.
Hey @SouthwestAir thanks for the help today with my lost clubs. Appreciate all you did for me. I got them at my hotel as promised. #luv
— Fred Faulkner IV (@FredFaulknerIV) March 20, 2017
Here is a shot of where I played just outside Vegas. @SouthwestAir pic.twitter.com/K7qFCWqdCc
— Fred Faulkner IV (@FredFaulknerIV) March 20, 2017
@FredFaulknerIV Phew! Glad we could reunite you with your clubs. Thanks for hanging with us and hope your trip is a hole-in-one. ^SL
— Southwest Airlines (@SouthwestAir) March 20, 2017
We all have choices to make when it comes to customer experience. How do we react to a situation? What can your team members do to fix a problem on their own? Southwest has set another example of not only rectifying a situation, which wasn’t even in their control, and made right by the lost clubs. I’m sure this happens all the time and the allowances given me are standard for them. But, it just made me feel like I could enjoy my day after being annoyed my clubs didn’t arrive with em. Additionally, even though I’m sure whoever was manning the Twitter account didn’t look up my incident report, still took the time to respond. Just adding to the continuity of the experience.
