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'Chaos management' at DIA

Customer service key for airlines as flights resume

Jeff Smith And Chris Walsh, Rocky Mountain News

Published December 23, 2006 at midnight

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They were among the most thankless jobs in the country Friday: Working the ticket counters at Denver International Airport and managing the lines of disgruntled customers trying to complete their holiday plans.

Airlines brought in additional staff - United even pulled in employees from California - who worked overtime, double shifts.

The situation was chaotic and tense at times, and by late afternoon Frontier still had check-in lines snaking from the East Terminal to the bridge to the West Terminal.

"It's chaos management," quipped Frontier customer Doug Knox, who waited more than five hours - in vain - in hopes of rebooking his canceled Thursday night flight. "But what are you going to do?"

One Frontier ticket counter employee could be overheard asking her supervisor for more "bodies" to serve customers. The supervisor said there weren't any unused computer terminals for "those bodies."

Another Frontier employee who would only identify himself as T.J. was walking up and down the lines, delivering bad news to customers who had waited hours to rebook flights or catch their scheduled flights.

"If you missed your flight, you need to go home and rebook (by calling Frontier)," he said at one point.

"We don't have a home, dude," one angry customer yelled out.

The blizzard will leave a financial mark on the airlines, which stand to lose millions of dollars from the cancellations. The biggest impact, though, could be losing future business if airlines respond to the situation poorly. Conversely, carriers have an opportunity to gain lifelong customers if they exceed customer expectations.

"When you get good service in a situation like this you want to marry them, because you're shocked," said Denver-area resident Don Gallegos, author of Win The Customer, Not The Argument, a book on customer service.

Ticket counter employees were too busy to talk but were observed to be mostly cordial, with only a couple appearing impatient and gruff.

Michael Singer, station trainer for Southwest Airlines, said the airline doesn't have special training for situations like this. Rather, "it's all standard customer service. It's what you're born with."

By late afternoon, Southwest ticket counters were calm, with few passengers waiting in line. But Singer acknowledged it had been "crazier earlier" and "pure hell" at times.

Frontier spokesman Andrew Hudson said no matter how much additional staff an airline pulls in, "nothing can prepare for 30,000 passengers. We're dealing with a major national disaster at the worst time of the year."

Hudson said he "totally understands" when some customers lose their cool. But he noted employees too are "working overtime, double shifts - putting in a lot."

He then turned to help another frustrated customer.