Going above and beyond

[CanadianEh]

This is a bit of a different thread, but I think it could be interesting.

I was reading an article about Southwest Airlines and they were giving examples of times where employees went way above the call of duty for their passengers.

"Customer service far beyond the norm in the airline industry was not unexpected at Southwest and had its own name - Positively Outrageous Service. Some examples of this service included a gate agent volunteering to a watch a dog for two weeks when an Acapulco-bound passenger showed up at the last minute without the required dog crate; an Austin passenger who missed a connection to Houston, where he was to have a kidney transplant operation, was flown there by a Southwest pilot in his private plane. Another passenger, an elderly woman flying to Phoenix for cancer treatment, began crying because she had no family or friends at her destination. The ticket agent invited her into her home and escorted her around Phoenix for two weeks"



What stories can you think of that you have personally done or seen others do in the name of kindness for other people?

[BTyyj]

[YBW-Kid]

Just the other day I heard about an incident with a WestJet passenger in Calgary. An elderly couple was flying across the country and had to change planes in Calgary. During the stop over the husband suffered a cardiac event and was rushed to the hospital. A WestJet Gate Agent stayed with the couple during the ambulance ride to the hospital. After things settled down at the hospital the WestJet Agent found the woman a hotel room and took her there by taxi. WestJet covered the hotel and taxi costs. I suspect they did much more- but that was the extent of the 2nd hand story I heard.

In today's world we expect horrible service from Costco - the power company right up to the airlines. A company does not have to do very much above and beyond to be noticed by the customer these days. I call it the mint on the pillow philosophy. When you check into a hotel and there is a mint on your pillow it makes you feel kinda nice. It was a small gesture, but still it made me feel good about the hotel. I know it cost them less than a penny to do that- but it was the action which impressed me. There was no mint at the last hotel.

The person who told me the story finished it with "those great people at WestJet - I bet Air Canada wouldn't have done that". She is an elderly non aviation person. We went on to discuss how doing the right thing likely paid off in spades for WestJet. I remarked - here were are talking about the incident and we had no connection to it. Good news travels fast. I wonder how many people will read this today? Good job WestJet!

[Redneck_pilot86]

I saw a story on facebook, not all that long ago, about a WJ plane missing in Regina and carrying on to Calgary as their alternate. On arrival, the counter agents learned of a woman trying to get to regina to see some dying relative...WJ allegedly offered to pay for a cab from Calgary to Regina to get this woman there faster, but she decided a flight the next morning would be just as quick. Not sure if it is true or not, but the "I bet Air Canada wouldn't have done that" line came up in our talks about it as well.

[Benito]

Yeah right. WJ is willing to pay for their passengers cabs and hotels but not for their new hire pilots. Going above and beyond...seriously?

[backon3]

Here we go..."Air Canada would never do that", and "a Westjetter would donate a kidney". I've seen AC employees do nice things and go the extra mile many times, they just don't call the Calgary Herald every time they find a wallet.

[Flyboy757]

Years ago...late 1988, early 1989 I was Capt on a military 707 "milk run" YQQ-YVR-YED-YWG-YTR. ETD 0900 out of YQQ.A padre from the naval base in YYJ stopped me as we were heading to the plane. He had driven up from YYJ on his own time and $$$ with an 18yr old girl and her 18mo old son. She was married to a young navy kid living in military housing. He went to sea and basically abandoned the girl and his son.According to the padre, their marriage was over. She had no money and no family/friend support in YYJ. Her parents lived in YPQ but no one could afford to fly them east. The padre had the proper paperwork but the flt was fully booked for most of the legs so she couldn`t get a seat to YTR where her family would pick her up. With no money she couldn`t afford to get left somewhere enroute either. The padre asked if we would consider using 2 of our extra seats in our crew rest area. I said I had no problem but checked with the crew..all gave "thumbs up". During the flight,the FA`s spoiled them rotten. On their breaks gave mum a break, cleaned up the kid, fed them, found him some clothes in the lost and founds at our stops.....We even took up a collection from the crew and pax who heard the story of our "special passengers". On arrival in YTR the girl and her son were met by her parents...fed,some new clothes, cleaned up and with about $250 in her pocket.
Will always remember them and be proud of my crew.