Image by Getty Images via @daylife
Brad Hall “designs systems for improving workforce performance”. Brad Hall has a PhD industrial-organizational psychology. Brad Hall knows that U.S airlines have awful customer service. And Brad Hall knows why- unions.
It is a foregone conclusion for Dr. Hall; one he is unwilling to let facts get in the way of. Dr. Hall begins with some sleight of hand and two straw-man hypotheses
Recently, the American Customer Satisfaction Index published its annual ranking of America’s worst customer service providers. Of the seven worst, four were airlines. American Airlines was rated seventh, Delta was sixth, U.S. Air was fifth and United was the second worst company in America for customer service (Charter Communications “won”). Airline service is a far cry from what we see on the Pam Am television series. But why?
Hypothesis 1: The nature of airline travel makes customer service difficult, if not impossible.
Airline travel is difficult, but good customer service is not impossible. On her first trip out of China, my 85-pound administrative assistant looked at me in terror as airline screeners told her to take off her shoes, then her jacket, then her sweater, then her belt, and then scanned her all over with a wand. Airline travel is stressful.
Yet, many airlines provide outstanding customer service. SKYTRAX rates customer satisfaction of the world’s airlines. In 2011, there were no five-star U.S. carriers and, of 31 four-star carriers, only one was U.S. — Jet Blue (a non-union U.S. airline).
Hall bases his entire premise on a third-hand reference to an ACSI report of worst companies. Let’s look at ACSI’s airline specific numbers
Airlines
Base-
line95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 Previous
Year
%
ChangeFirst
Year
%
ChangeSouthwest 78 76 76 76 74 72 70 70 74 75 73 74 74 76 79 81 79 81 2.5 3.8 All Others NM 70 74 70 62 67 63 64 72 74 73 74 74 75 75 77 75 76 1.3 8.6 Airlines 72 69 69 67 65 63 63 61 66 67 66 66 65 63 62 64 66 65 -1.5 -9.7 Continental 67 64 66 64 66 64 62 67 68 68 67 70 67 69 62 68 71 64 -9.9 -4.5 American 70 71 71 62 67 64 63 62 63 67 66 64 62 60 62 60 63 63 0.0 -10.0 United 71 67 70 68 65 62 62 59 64 63 64 61 63 56 56 56 60 61 1.7 -14.1 US Airways 72 67 66 68 65 61 62 60 63 64 62 57 62 61 54 59 62 61 -1.6 -15.3 Delta 77 72 67 69 65 68 66 61 66 67 67 65 64 59 60 64 62 56 -9.7 -27.3 Northwest Airlines 69 71 67 64 63 53 62 56 65 64 64 64 61 61 57 57 61 # N/A N/A
When we look at the actual numbers we see that Southwest, a union airline, has service far beyond the legacy airlines mentioned, and that Hall’s vaunted JetBlue is not included. Rather than use the Southwest number to refute his argument, Hall finds another source, the Skytrax ratings, and compares them, apples to oranges, to the ACSI numbers to conclude, erroneously, that dismal customer service is not due to the nature of airline travel. The 5 star airlines are all long-haul, high-end brands that are not comparable to the mass-market domestic airlines whose service Hall decries. Domestic airlines have compounded the problems of invasive security with irritating fees for basic services. Notably, JetBlue and Southwest, airlines which offer free checked bags, seem to perform well in various service metrics.
Hall then offers his second straw-man, and dismisses it in record time
Hypothesis 2: Customer service is not America’s strong point.
Each year, Businessweek ranks the world’s best companies for customer service — The Customer Service Elite. In this year’s top 25, 24 are American-owned. America’s service capabilities are extraordinary. In the travel and hospitality industry, the U.S. is home to the world’s best hotel companies: Fairmont, Ritz Carlton, Marriott, Intercontinental, Westin, Hilton, Hyatt, Sheraton, etc. Yet, despite dominance in hotel service, the U.S. simply cannot compete in airline service.
Here Hall finds yet another measure of customer service to prove his point. Well, it turns out that ACSI has hotel ratings too
Hotels
Base-
line95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 Previous
Year
%
ChangeFirst
Year
%
ChangeHilton 75 75 75 75 72 74 77 74 76 74 77 76 78 76 78 79 80 80 0.0 6.7 Starwood NM NM NM NM NM NM 73 71 69 73 73 75 75 76 74 74 77 79 2.6 8.2 Marriott 80 76 77 76 76 77 74 77 76 76 76 76 75 79 78 77 80 79 -1.3 -1.3 Hotels 75 73 72 71 71 72 72 71 71 73 72 73 75 71 75 75 75 77 2.7 2.7 Hyatt 76 75 77 77 75 73 74 73 75 77 74 74 75 77 78 74 79 77 -2.5 1.3 All Others NM 73 71 71 70 71 72 70 70 72 71 73 76 70 76 76 74 77 4.1 5.5 InterContinental NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM 74 75 78 76 -2.6 2.7 Best Western 74 70 NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM 70 75 76 76 0.0 2.7 Choice NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM 71 76 74 74 0.0 4.2 Wyndham NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM NM 70 70 70 73 4.3 4.3 Holiday Inn 69 69 NM NM 69 68 71 71 69 72 73 69 72 72 # N/A N/A Promus Hotel 82 80 83 77 78 79 # N/A N/A Ramada 70 69 70 64 67 67 69 66 67 70 67 66 70 69 # N/A N/A
Southwest beat every hotel chain on the list, and U.S. airlines not in the survey(All Others) were comparable to the average hotel. So yes Americans can do customer service, but why would we think they couldn’t, except to give Hall two easy dragons to slay. Having done so, Hall moves on to the only answer left- must be the unions. Never mind that the outstanding Southwest is unionized, or that many of the hotel chains he cites are. Hall didn’t mention that as it ruins his thesis.
Hypothesis 3: Unions have crippled the airline industry.
This hypothesis has legs. Think of great organizations like Nordstrom or Disneyland. When you walk through the door, you viscerally feel a service-obsessed culture.
Nearly all major U.S. carriers are unionized. Unions can survive only if there is conflict between managers and non-managers — if the culture is toxic. Increasing toxicity is the lifeblood of unions. The Association of Flight Attendants is the world’s largest flight attendant union. Its trademarked rallying cry is CHAOS (Create Havoc Around Our System).
Ah, hear we go. This has legs, because Hall hates unions. Think of some great companies. Now, think about unions. They’re toxic. QED. Oh wait, there’s more, Dr. Hall?
Seniority-based rewards is a core union belief. Thus, seniority, not service excellence, drives flight attendant pay, benefit and scheduling. According to Steve Turner, Chairman of WASINC, a recruiting firm for international pilots, long-haul international flights are routinely staffed by the most senior employees. Many fly only one trip per month and still collect a full-time, senior-grade paycheck. Pay too little and employees quit and leave. Pay too much and employees quit and stay — especially when there is no performance management system to drive out low performers.
Travel on a United Airlines international route and you will find that almost all flight attendants are over 50 years old. Many are in their 60s and 70s and routinely ask customers for help stowing overhead bags. With no performance management system, a flight attendant can work until he/she dies of old age without fear of termination.
Because of unions there are old people working on planes. Old people don’t care about service, can’t get the job done, are unattractive and smell funny. Funny, Dr. Hall’s favorite non-union domestic airline, JetBlue, has a seniority system too.
Many “experienced” flight attendants start each flight by letting the passengers know they are in charge. Their message is clear, “I have been around the block; don’t mess with me.” The reason is described in the safety demonstration at the beginning of the flight. The announcement states that the flight attendants’ primary purpose is safety. The unions have pushed the safety theme to move away from a customer service focus. In truth, almost no one reading this will ever depend on a flight attendant for safety. And safety procedures take days, not years, to learn. Seniority is irrelevant to safety.
Safety is a crazy myth pushed on us by those nefarious unions. You know, the ones who are responsible for all bad things. Safety has actually been a mission statement of flight attendants from the beginning of aviation.
Contrast the United picture with my recent flight on All Nippon Airlines (ANA). I first saw the flight attendants as they walked toward Immigration. They walked confidently as a team, smiling and proud. Disneyland calls its employees “cast members” and tells them when a guest is present, they are on stage. The ANA attendants acted as if they were on stage. The flight attendants were mostly in their 20s, a few in their thirties. They were beautifully dressed with identical dresses and hair styles. As they walked through Immigration, each flashed a big smile and bowed or curtsied to an adoring immigration officer.
During the safety demonstration, I could see three flight attendants down the long aisles of the 777. They looked like a dance team — every movement was perfectly synchronized and their smiles warmed up the plane. At takeoff, each flight attendant sat up straight in a backward-facing chair with hands folded as she scanned her section back and forth with great vigilance.
Asian stewardesses are young and sexy, says Hall. Unions stop him from having eye candy, and he apparently doesn’t value service from anyone who he doesn’t see as a sex object.
Dr. Hall’s article is a bizarre, poorly-reasoned, misogynistic, jingoistic, anti-union screed. It’s just plain wrong. The original version contained allegations about Delta, later removed, that were not factual. We’re frankly shocked that TheStreet.com published this, and more shocked that they haven’t removed it. Unions aren’t perfect, but they are not the source of the airline’s customer service problems. Those airlines who choose to focus on customer service, union or not, have succeeded. The customer service of legacy airlines is abysmal, but it’s not the unions fault.
Related articles
- Airline Rankings: Best and Worst for Customer Service in 2011 (blogs.wsj.com)
- American Airlines to international passengers: Have a drink on us, literally (aviationblog.dallasnews.com)
