Case History –Airline Service Recovery Course (“Complaints are a Gift”)
Continental Airlines; Houston, Texas, USA
Contact:
Deborah Tholen, Vice President, Flight Operations.
Business Type:
International Airline in USA.
Previous Training Program:
None – this program was developed to support ticket and gate agents when flights were cancelled or passengers bumped.
Client Objective:
To train 1700 ticket agents and gate agents to “recover” upset customers and keep them flying Continental. Course goals were to:
- Decrease customers lost to other airlines
- Increase customer satisfaction during boarding denials (weather, oversold, cancelled flights, etc)
- Increase repeat business customers after service recovery incident.
System Implemented:
ICAL established an ICAL Innovation Institute to train Continental employees to design courses in several key business sectors. ICAL also trained a national Continental team of trainers to deliver these initiatives.
Accomplishments:
The 2 day course was designed by ICAL and a group of Continental SME’s. It was delivered locally by the national training team over 12 months. Complaints from passengers denied boarding were 52% lower at stations who received the Service Recovery protocol. Repeat business customers after boarding denials were also 37% higher at stations who received the training. Cancelled memberships dropped by 43% in Service Recovery trained stations. Course is still part of New Hire program at Continental.
Satisfaction:
- 100% course attendance
- Decreased complaints
- Decreased employee fear
Knowledge:
- Increased use of Service Reovery protocol
- Increased response time
- Increased positive feedback
Application:
- Increased recovered customers
- Decreased customer complaints
- Decreased upset at gates
Return on Investment:
- Increased returning customers
- Decreased cancelled memberships
- Increased business repeat customers
- Course investment: $130,000 for 1,700 employees over 12 months
- Additional Revenues attributed to the course: $375,000 over 12 months
- Return on Investment: 288% over 12 months (and the course is still in use).
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