When it comes to great customer service or expedient social care, my guess is most people wouldn’t have the Transportation Safety Administration any on their list. Heck, they might not even be in the Top 100 companies, organizations or brands you would think of.
Thanks to John on the social care team on Twitter (@AskTSA), They have now made my short list. In fact, when it comes to the TSA, they are A-OK!
The Story
I was flying today from Columbus to Baltimore. I checked in yesterday on the Southwest Airlines mobile app for today’s short flight and didn’t pay much attention to my boarding information. As I was traveling all day yesterday I was sort of on “auto-pilot” (no pun intended) I didn’t realize that the standard “TSA Pre √” symbol on my boarding information. (I have had TSA Pre-Check Status for almost 6 months and it is an awesome perk and totally worth the $85 investment)
As I arrived today at John Glenn International airport in Columbus to go through security, I was told by the TSA Pre-Check agent that I didn’t have access to be in that line and I would have to get in the other line. The slower, longer line.
I walked back to the counter and the desk agent at Southwest assured me my pre-check information was in their system. He even showed me he monitor. He guessed that every once in a while, TSA might randomly make you go through the regular line?
After waiting patiently, I made it through and asked one of the TSA Supervisors at Terminal A if that happens often. He had never heard of it occurring before and suggested I reach out to TSA via their free mobile app. I downloaded the app and also sent a quick Tweet out…
Hey @SouthwestAir & @TSA – what’s the point of paying for pre-check if it doesn’t show up on your boarding pass? #BS
— Sean Carpenter (@seancarp) November 7, 2016
[Note: I mis-tagged @ColumbusAirport in my original tweet with @Port_Columbus]
The Response
I was pleasantly surprised that the social care team at @AskTSA responded to me before I had even boarded my flight. Notice that @AskTSA wasn’t even tagged in my original tweet. They did a great job of monitoring the social channels and were able to ask me privately for some information about me, my flights and my Known Traveler Number. As I was boarding the flight, I sent that off to them expecting some template-like message “apologizing for my inconvenience” and “thanking me for contacting TSA.”
A few hours later I received the following inquiry from John at @AskTSA
Now for those of you who are loyal Carp’s Corner readers, you’ll remember my rant last week about AT&T and their lack of “social care.” In fact, one of the issues I had with AT&T was their not using the same operator/consultant for the entire conversation whereas @AakTSA had one representative handling my inquiry.
John found the error in the system. My Southwest profile was missing a digit on my Known Traveler Number (which is strange because my last 4 flights on Southwest were all TSA-Pre Check and nothing had changed).
He assured me that my record was now updated but suggested I check when printing my boarding passes or checking in for my next few flights.
The Man Behind the Curtain
A great server in a restaurant is only as good as the chefs in the kitchen and a great band on stage is usually only as good as the roadies and sound crew. Yet most paying customers never thinks about that because when we are hungry, we don’t care “how the sausage is made.” In this case, the men and woman in blue TSA uniforms scanning my suitcase and carry-on or yelling at me to “take my laptop out of my bag and to remove everything from my pockets” were the hands and feet but John and his social care team members were the “head and heart” of the operation today.
This was a great job by John at @AskTSA of listening to the paying customer and finding solutions to the problem. It was handled efficiently AND effectively and certainly helped make it a “memorable experience.”
When errors or miscommunication happens in your business, what systems and protocols do you have in place to identify the problem, research the best way to minimize the friction and work to make things right? If you can do that on a regular basis, it makes your customers and clients experience so much easier and more memorable.
And they won’t even have to remove their lap top or take their shoes off to make it happen.