‘You don’t really expect me to sit here, do you?’ said the petite French lady, to the airhostess, who looked puzzled, wondering what the fuss was all about. The fuss was about a completely worn out and lop sided, lumpy and definitely non-serviceable looking seat that the poor lady had the misfortune of getting in the flight we were on. Many of the seats in that entire row of seats, and that too the coveted front row in economy, were in the same state, but the one my French friend got was the worst of the lot.
Some more polite complaining and repeated assertions that she had a further 16 hour flight to Paris, finally got the ground staff came to examine the seat. After removing it, turning it this way and that and staring at it as if trying to scare it into shape, he plumped it with his hands (seriously!) and put it back. The hostesses drifted away, and tried to pretty much stay invisible through all this.
It was a full flight, so there were no alternate seats to offer and the traveller also rightly pointed out that she had specifically booked the front row for leg room. Through all this, a couple of seats in business class were obviously occupied by pilots and other crew, who looked least bothered by the furore, and stayed glued to their newspapers. And the airhostess, as well as the ground crew, kept insisting that it was just an hour plus and she should ‘adjust’; all she got was vacuous smiles………….
This is a full service carrier, trying to compete in an increasingly competitive not to mention painful business for every ‘good’ passenger. Here is an international passenger, who is using them in both the domestic and international legs.
I was struck by the absolute refusal to acknowledge the problem by all the staff who dealt with her – and their lack of empathy. Did they stop to think about long travel that starts with an absolutely uncomfortable seat definite to give a back-ache? Shouldn’t they have stopped to listen to what she was saying – about this being a longer journey? At least employed some typical Indian Jugaad to make the seat more comfortable? Say put a folded blanket, or two pillows? Anything that showed they cared………..
And what about the conscious blindness of the folks belonging to the airline, cushy in their business class seats? I don’t know if there are rules that forbid pilots in uniform travelling in economy, but in their place, I would expect one of those gentlemen to offer his business class seat to the lady.
What about the maintenance crew – where is the check on quality of seat, a critical basic hygiene factor in an aircraft, and sensitivity to replace or correct? Don’t they care that passengers in their airline will have a definitely uncomfortable flight?
Do any of the crew and staff see and read their own advertisements? Do they pause to think about their role in the delivery of that service promise of the ‘guest experience’
I contrasted this in my mind with the server in a small eatery in the tiny hill town of Kotagiri, where we landed one afternoon, soaked from the rain and hungry, towards the fag end of the lunch session. He seated us, warning that many of the components of the ‘thali meal’ were over. We said we didn’t mind. He quickly gave us hot glasses of rasam even before he served lunch, found a couple of napkins to dry ourselves. He was apologetic about the lack of all elements of the meal, and compensated with a hot cup of coffee at no charge in the end.
What contributed to this level of hospitality, this level of service excellence, in a fairly illiterate small town man? I am still grappling in my mind with this puzzle. All thoughts welcome!
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