I departed for London last Saturday evening, on a redeye flight that arrived Sunday morning. All looked good for an on-time departure until the Captain announced a delay. He was forthright, to the point, explained the reason behind it (combination of weather--New York experienced a tornado in the afternoon-- and air traffic control). And he gave an estimate of departure time. In fact, he had to give several estimates because, for various reasons, the time of departure was shifted. But he never left the passengers without additional information for more than fifteen minutes, max.
We eventually got off the tarmac, but it was an hour and a half behind schedule. Yet there was little irritation, no complaining. As it happened, a total of 88 passengers had connecting flights in London to Brussels, Hong Kong, Stockholm, elsewhere. The flight crew was solicitous getting all connecting flight information, then explained to each passenger-personally-the various options available to them. When it came time to deplane in London, BA had arranged for a bus to take the people on connecting flights to that connecting flight area of the terminal as quickly a possible. And they solicited the cooperation of everyone on the plane to allow those connecting to other flights to deplane first.
It was done smoothly, professionally, and in friendly fashion. We were all impressed. I shared my impression of BA with others here in London after my arrival and am sure others did the same.
Great PR. Great service. Great conversation.
Author of I is for Intercourse: The ABC's of Conversation, Susan Bird is the visionary behind Wf360, and a sought-after speaker around the world for her views on leadership, the strategic importance of conversation, entrepreneurship, and the role of women business leaders.
Comments