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  • Essay / A Plan for British Airways Customer Service

    Table of ContentsCustomer Service Assignment OverviewBritish AirwaysCustomer Service PlanStrategic Planning ProcessStrategy Selection and ImplementationConclusionCustomer Service Assignment OverviewTo prepare a report taken from the point of view that I work for a management consulting firm. The report will explain how I would go about developing the customer service program at British Airways, using a customer service plan, applying relevant concepts, theories and models showing how this plan will be implemented. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essayBritish AirwaysBritish Airways is a global air cargo company, it is the largest in Britain and the fifth largest in the world. Being such a large company, it is essential that they have excellent customer service so that they can retain their customers. The following will suggest what changes British Airways needs to make to continue its current dominance in the transportation market. Plan for Customer Service Superior customer service is always connected to market leaders, competition within and between market sectors will raise the stakes in offering superior service. British Airways is starting to struggle with an old care plan that requires immediate repair and updating. To create the plan I used the following template divided by Aaker, da. It was designed to help businesses set and achieve realistic goals and achieve the desired competitive position within a certain time frame. This will help reduce errors and put the company in a position where it can anticipate change, respond to it, and even create change to its own advantage. Strategic Planning Process Along with this, I have prepared the following action plan: Statement of Objectives To be the undisputed travel leader in the world. Respond to every complaint and request. Exceed customer expectations on every trip. To retain customers, good service and the use of loyalty programs. Celebrate continued success by rewarding our customers. To make customers our best ambassadors. Situation Analysis BA is Britain's leading travel company. The product sold is considered to be of high class and safety, but also of a high price. Customer service was good, but consumer demands have increased significantly over the past 5 years. All staff are regularly trained. Yet market research shows that ground staff needs more improvement. Delay time has decreased, although research shows that consumers are more agitated by the lack of explanation for delays than by the delay itself. Strategy selection and implementation A coherent set of actions aimed at achieving a sustainable solution. advantage over the competition, improving the position vis-à-vis customers. For this section of the analysis, I used the quote above and a SWOT analysis to help me find the best customer service strategies. The SWOT analysis can be found below: Before deciding which strategies to consider. I looked at customer perspectives and selected one to help express exactly what customers think is wrong. This extract is from the British Airways archives: We took British Airways flight 1502 to Manchester from New York at around 5:30 p.m., arrived on the runway, sat for 6 hours due to thunderstorms in the region and (as they told us later) because the pilot hadwrong track. We then sat at the terminal for another 2 hours, supposedly to collect fuel, then suddenly they announced that the flight was canceled. ARRRGGHH!!!! It was 2 a.m. at that time. We collected our bags and the airline packed us all onto buses, ostensibly to take us to hotels. When we arrived (another hour and a half later) we discovered that another bus had already arrived and had taken all the available rooms. It was now 4am. The agent asked the bus driver to take us to a 24-hour restaurant (we hadn't eaten anything since noon the day before), then return to the airport to pick up an 8:30 a.m. restaurant. Morning flight at destination London. We then had to take a 4 hour bus ride after reaching London to reach Manchester. The connecting flights to Manchester were full! A 12 hour trip took us over 36 hours. I'm still trying to get a response from British Airways customer service; their customer service phone line is a recording that leads nowhere. Lesson learned? Stay away from British Airways - they have no idea about customer service. The technical factors in this complaint take it out of the hands of service personnel. However, it is up to customer service to do everything they can in this kind of situation to keep the customer happy. I have extracted from here the main points of complaint which were also reflected in the original analysis. I sat on the plane for 6 hours. hours, without food or drink, worse yet, without an explanation of what was happening. Packed onto buses at 2am, having to catch a plane the next morning. British Airways managed to book 2 coaches at 1 hotel. No sleep or rest. In the morning they took a flight to London (not original destination), with no connecting flight to Manchester, but had to take a coach instead. After the incident, they can no longer get thrown into customer service lines. They will never travel with BA again. The same issues emerge from this complaint as the negative elements we discovered during the planning process and SWOT analysis. The new customer service program will include the following essential factors to reinvent British Airways customer service: Train all new and existing staff to the same level, although this can be a time consuming option, it is largely necessary not to take shortcuts. Explain if there is a delay or other problem, give each customer a full explanation of what happened, why it happened and when the problem will be resolved. Celebrate and reward excellence Employees and customers, by giving just a little more than they expected, can make a big difference in their views and attitudes. Employ more telesales staff who will get thrown out the first time, whether it's booking a flight or complaining, we'll remember next time. Recruitment and retention are key competitive weapons. Empower staff so that with every request, people don't have to find 3 different supervisors before they can or can't do what they wanted to do in the first place. Make it easy to file a complaint, excluding telesales, right away. when something happens, there should be a place to record the complaint. Every complaint and question answered within 24 hours, follow-up calls or letters can mean the difference between keeping or losing a very important customer. Every customer service strategy should be implemented as soon as possible. to complete the program and..