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Frequent Complainer Booted From Frequent Flier Program

Not knowing the details, my initial response would be that the airline must have a good reason for booting him from the program; one would think that a business would want to retain the custom of someone flying 75 times/year. On the other side, complaining 24 times in 9 months (out of around 56 flights based on the 75/year noted in the article) makes me think that it might be time to try another airline.

I suspect that the real bottom line is that if the airline lived up to its promises -- including, likely, a promise that they can terminate a customer's participation in the program -- they'll probably prevail in the end...after spending more money on lawyers than they would have spent just leaving him in the program.
 
Yep. 24 complaints in 9 months? I've probably been on a couple hundred flights in 30 years, and I've never complained once.

But...

"I don't think I was a frequent complainer," Ginsberg said.
Click to expand...
 
Guy chronically complains for the purpose of getting freebies out of the airline. This sticks out like a sore thumb in computerized data mining. Airline deals with the situation.

Good riddance.
 
As business school taught me "customer is always right" is dead. It is 80/20. 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of your profits and 20% of your customers are responsible for 80% of your complaints.
 
I bet they also looked at how many complaints they got from other passengers on the same flights, and when they saw few, tossed him into the whiner bin. Nobody's obligated to do business with a customer who causes them to lose money.

I agree with Beerina. Good riddance.
 
I remember when Herb Kelleher of Southwest said he would ask abusive customers not to fly Southwest. I don't buy that the customer is always right BS. I think the customer should be treated courteously and the employees should always be professional and learn conflict resolution techniques. If a customer is incapable of reason businesses shouldn't serve that customer.
 
Beerina said:
Guy chronically complains for the purpose of getting freebies out of the airline. This sticks out like a sore thumb in computerized data mining. Airline deals with the situation.

Good riddance.
Click to expand...


That's certainly what it looked like to me.

Rolfe.
 
In my experience the only people who ever claim that the customer is always right are customers who know perfectly well they are in the wrong.
 
Beerina said:
Guy chronically complains for the purpose of getting freebies out of the airline. This sticks out like a sore thumb in computerized data mining. Airline deals with the situation.

Good riddance.
Click to expand...

Yarg, i remember these folks when i worked over the phone customer service.

They know that 99% of the time it is much more time efficient to give them the dollar they are complaining about than spend literal hours debating their interpretation of the company policy. To combat this, one company i worked for made an automated customer service line, the person typed in their kind of issue , were told that it was reviewed ( it wasn't) and got anything they asked for up to 5 dollars.

Worked for a while, until the complainers figured this out, so then they would call in every month, get the 5 dollars, then call into the customer service center and make up a complaint to get more free things.

My favored position in the company was sup when they finally started flagging people's accounts. And literally sending them directly to me, as , not to toot my own horn, but despite being polite without being condescending, people knew they wern't getting away with anything once they heard my voice, and reasoning.

Very few things were more satisfying than flagging someone's account with " No credit without approval of ** my name here** ". One of those being the dozen or so times that someone said " Listen this is ridiculous, i know i was just taking advantage before, but now i have a real issue. " , oh the anger that took place when i said ( Not specific , but rather an overview of what the resolution was in these cases.) " Okay, well we did overcharge you 100 dollars by accident this month, very sorry about that. Balancing this out with the 120 dollars in credit you admit you got without reason, that will be a 20 dollar charge on next month's bill. Is there anything else i can help you with?"

Then the pure bile that came out of them when they realized that after X number of calls they came right to me, no other choice than to send in a letter. And while the company in question was great at solving real issues, they took a dim view of people who got anywhere from 100 to 300 dollars worth of credits for no reason a year ( some of these knobs literally paid 10 dollars a month or slightly less for service when all was said and done.).
 
Dear Sir,

We here at Monkey Airlines have noted that you have experienced quite a few problems with our services in the past. Since we are consistently unable to fulfill your expectations, it seems unfair of us to expect you to remain in our Frequently Monkey Program. We therefore release you from this relationship and wish you success in finding an airline better able to meet your needs.

Respectfully,
P. Flinging Monkey
 
Actually does the details match the headline? I found this paragraph, which suggests that the only thing that has changed is that he will not get rewarded for lodging complaints. He can still fly and still be a frequent flyer.

"Due to our past generosity, we must respectfully advise that we will no longer be awarding you compensation each time you contact us."
Click to expand...
 
rjh01 said:
Actually does the details match the headline? I found this paragraph, which suggests that the only thing that has changed is that he will not get rewarded for lodging complaints. He can still fly and still be a frequent flyer.
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He may be able to be a Delta/Northwest frequent flier again (this is a bit unclear), but with a lower "status" and, according to the article, losing his previously accrued miles.
Ginsberg joined Northwest's WorldPerks frequent flier program in 1999 and reached Platinum Elite status in 2005.

But in June of 2008, Ginsberg said a Northwest representative called him and told him his status was being revoked "on the ground that he had 'abused' the program," according to court papers.

Ginsberg said the airline also took away the hundreds of thousands of miles accumulated in his account.
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Given that they took away his miles, I think the intention is that he's not allowed to participate in their frequent flier program anymore.

As for the bit about not rewarding him for complaints, I suspect that was meant to apply to any future complaints if he flew again without being a member of the program. In other words, he's not barred from flying on their airplanes but "if you fly with us again and call to complain, we're not giving you free stuff like we did every other damn time you called. We're trying to run a business here."
 
rjh01 said:
Actually does the details match the headline? I found this paragraph, which suggests that the only thing that has changed is that he will not get rewarded for lodging complaints. He can still fly and still be a frequent flyer.
Click to expand...

Wow, i love the phrasing of that, i really do. " Listen, a-hole, we both know what is going on, **** off with the penny pinching. " but , you know, slightly nicer.

The " every time" , is what makes it for me.
 
As an aside, I'd just like to note that the complainer in question is Jewish (a rabbi no less). I don't think this has anything to do with it, but if Skeptic was still here, this thread would have over 200 posts by now.
 
Complaining multiple times that his luggage didn't get to the baggage claim carousel quick enough? I'm surprised they waited so long. That's hilarious.
 
Checkmite said:
Complaining multiple times that his luggage didn't get to the baggage claim carousel quick enough? I'm surprised they waited so long. That's hilarious.
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Depends - if one of the stated benefits of having status in the frequent flier program is priority baggage handling and they do not deliver that benefit, then seems a legitimate complaint. They are advertising something they are not delivering. I am supposed to get this service with an airline I use a lot but on the rare occasions I need to check a bag, the "priority" tagged bags are rarely if ever delivered first - not a big deal for me but I don't necessarily think it is unreasonable to point out that a promised benefit is not being provided.
 
shemp said:
As an aside, I'd just like to note that the complainer in question is Jewish (a rabbi no less). I don't think this has anything to do with it, but if Skeptic was still here, this thread would have over 200 posts by now.
Click to expand...

You see, those of us who were sorry to see Skeptic go were right.
 
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