Why Do Airlines Still Make Consumers Telephone for Help?
Photo Credit: The Dutch Airline KLM is among the more digitally-focused airlines. David Neeleman, who plans a new U.S. airline by 2021, said his carrier will also have a forward-thinking digital approach. KLM
Skift Take
It's 2018, and yet most U.S. airlines still handle almost all inquiries from customers via telephone. That has to change.
I do not like to talk on the telephone.
It is an odd admission for a journalist. But I have worked my entire career in the digital age, and my best sources — you know who you are — prefer to contact me via email, iMessage, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. Public relations people may pester me via phone, but I rarely receive a call from someone with whom I wish to speak.
Yet I spend an inordinate amount of time on the phone with airline customer service agents. I'm what you would consider a high-touch customer — I book complicated itineraries and often want to upgrade or change a flight — and with most airlines, I must place a call, wait in the queue, and explain my problem. Then the agent puts me on hold to conduct some research and perhaps chat with a supervisor.
What if there was another way?
Well, my colleague Dennis Schaal spent time last week with David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways, to learn more about his U.S. startup airline, coming as soon
