Stress Busters

Traveling, especially flying has become a high stress activity. I used be able to get to the airport 20 minutes before my flight was supposed to leave, rush to my gate and was off to my destination. Now you have to plan to leave at least two hours before your flight and know that you are going to be interrogated every step of the way. I’m all for the new safety measures, but a little compassion would go a long way from airline employees.

I’ve been flying the same airline for over 20 years, and I guess forgot that I have a choice. The airlines are very good at getting you heavily entrenched in their frequent flyer program so you keep booking on their airlines hoping to get an upgrade which would make the flight more tolerable. As most airlines are these days the one I’ve been very loyal to has financial problems so it seems like every week they take away one of the services they offer. I have a feeling they are doing the same thing to their employees because you can tell they don’t want to be on that plane any more than I do.

As luck would have it unknown to me I was booked on a “codeshare flight” a few months ago that would have me flying Northwest Airlines the first leg of my flight and “the other airline” the rest. There is another way to fly! There is a happier, customer focused airline that appreciates my business! The Northwest team is amazing – high energy, obviously enjoying their jobs and customer focused – they have gone out of their way to make my flights and trips less stressful. Even though I’ve given up any chance of flying first class for awhile, it’s well worth it. Before when I returned from a flight it took me days to recuperate – now I’m ready to go the next morning. After flying Northwest 3 times in the past month I’m happy to report that each flight has been a stress-free experience.

We do have a choice of who we spend our hard earned dollars with, and customer service usually isn’t a cost for a company, it’s a state of mind. The next time you have a bad experience with a company, or get the feeling that they really don’t appreciate your business remember that you can make changes. And also remember when you do have someone who goes out of their way to make your experience a pleasant one thank them and let them know that their customer service and attitude are appreciated.

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