Flying the friendly(ish) skies has always given airport observationists plenty of time to pontificate on life and leadership. Today is no exception.
I’m flying home to Houston from a wedding in Raleigh having already dealt with a delayed flight getting to Raleigh and a cancelled flight on the way home. The latter news came about the time dinner was being served at the wedding. Needless to say, I wasn’t much for conversation at our table as I tried to work things out with United Airlines
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But that’s where it got interesting. I received the automated text that my flight early this morning would be cancelled and I should click a certain link to see what my options are. I follow instructions well so I did as I was told within seconds of receiving the text. And of course, the app says there are no more flights available on the day I was originally supposed to leave. Ugh! I alerted my friends at the wedding of my predicament just in case they had the same cancelled flight fate as mine. All the note said was it was because of weather, so anything was possible.
I did a quick check of a few other airlines and the costs were outrageous so I figured I would just deal with staying an extra night. I booked “for free” the new flight and figured I would see if the hotel had room when I got back later that night. I cancelled my Uber Reserve for early the next morning and I felt I could relax and enjoy the rest of the wedding.
All of this took place over about a 10-minute period and then it came. Another automated text: We’ve re-booked you to a later flight on the same day you were going to fly out. Wait, what? But I just booked one for the next day. Which is it?
I eventually got it worked out and did actually get on that flight which is great because I didn’t have to stay an extra day. But I think this story says a lot about my personality. I thought I knew the system. I thought I could get it done quickly and move on. But what I really needed to do was take a breath, wait a few minutes and let the process play out.
There is nothing wrong with being assertive, but it is also worthwhile taking a moment to realize that this was not the first time a multi-billion dollar airline has had to deal with a cancellation and re-booking and there were probably some things in place to help the consumer. Could their initial messaging have been better though? Absolutely! One sentence could have changed everything: “Our automated system is working to rebook you to the next available flight and we will notify you as soon as that happens. Stay tuned!”