{"id":1478,"date":"2012-02-14T12:25:13","date_gmt":"2012-02-14T16:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/?p=1478"},"modified":"2012-02-14T12:25:13","modified_gmt":"2012-02-14T16:25:13","slug":"customer-service-at-its-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/2012\/02\/14\/customer-service-at-its-best\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Service At Its Best"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I know it\u2019s <em>de rigueur<\/em> to complain about air travel, so as a longtime frequent flyer I\u2019d like to share a positive story about a recent amazing experience with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.aa.com\/homePage.do\" target=\"_blank\">American Airlines<\/a>.<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/birthday1.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I kicked off a two-week trip to Argentina at JFK airport in New York, replete with all the stress you\u2019d expect from moving a large group of luggage-laden people to a far-off country.<\/p>\n<p>But instead of the usual aggravation, I was greeted with a wonderful surprise \u2013 all thanks to the gracious and caring folks at American Airlines.<\/p>\n<p>Elvin \u2013 one of the friends joining me on a <a href=\"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/2012\/02\/10\/50-in-argentinah\/\" target=\"_blank\">once-in-a-lifetime trip in celebration of my 50<sup>th<\/sup> birthday<\/a> \u2013 got in touch with AA before we left asking if they could arrange a special check-in. The airline responded immediately.<\/p>\n<p>When we arrived at JFK, we were met at the curb with a security person, luggage handler and the head of special events. They walked us into a special check-in counter area and, lo and behold, a big video monitor (pictured) saluted me with a personalized birthday greeting.<\/p>\n<p>One of the security guards told me he\u2019d worked at American Airlines for 35 years and had never seen anyone\u2019s name on a video monitor.<\/p>\n<p>And that wasn\u2019t all. We were then taken through a private entrance to the Flagship Lounge, where AA had laid out a spread for us to enjoy. From there, we were led to a conference room where a big birthday cake with my name awaited.<\/p>\n<p>Once onboard, AA even had a replica sign of the video display and a fruit and wine basket at my seat.<a href=\"http:\/\/www.welcomeargentina.com\/puertoiguazu\/iguazu-falls.html\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"right\" src=\"http:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/waterfall.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was an incredible kickoff that deserves acknowledgement \u2013 and that should serve as a reminder to anyone in business that we should always strive to exceed expectations for service and make people feel special.<\/p>\n<p>The result can be friends \u2013 and loyal customers \u2013 for life.<\/p>\n<p>American Airlines didn\u2019t spend a lot of money to make me feel super special, but I\u2019m certainly going to reward them with my business whenever I can going forward.<\/p>\n<p>Let me know what special efforts you\u2019ve made for your customers by posting a comment or e-mailing me <a href=\"mailto:tim.andrews@asicentral.com\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>. I\u2019m also on <a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/Tim_Andrews_ASI\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/timothymandrews\" target=\"_blank\">LinkedIn<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/timasitv\" target=\"_blank\">YouTube<\/a>. By the way, the picture is of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.welcomeargentina.com\/puertoiguazu\/iguazu-falls.html\" target=\"_blank\">Iguazu Falls<\/a> \u2013 just one of the amazing sights we\u2019ve seen since landing in Argentina.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I know it\u2019s de rigueur to complain about air travel, so as a longtime frequent flyer I\u2019d like to share a positive story about a recent amazing experience with American Airlines. I kicked off a two-week trip to Argentina at JFK airport in New York, replete with all the stress you\u2019d expect from moving a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1478"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1485,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1478\/revisions\/1485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timandrewsblog-asicentral.com\/timblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}