Have You Ever Felt Bullied by Airline Employees?

National Anti-Bullying Week has just come to an end (November 17-21).  The great work of the Anti-Bullying Alliance is mainly geared towards schools and the bullying of children.  However, even as adults, we come into contact with grown-up bullies in all walks of life.  They may come in the form of aggressive, tailgating drivers, intimidating groups of drunks on the streets, taxi drivers who rip you off on holiday, rude waiters, or other employees in service industries who are supposed to be nice to you.  Let’s face it, we are all going to be guilty of ‘having a bad day’ or letting our emotions get the better of us at some time in our lives, but if we are paying for service, we expect to receive service – with a smile! 

Following on from our Unruly Airlines blog of a few days ago, problems can occur on flights whether it be in the form of drunken passengers or surly, bad-tempered flight attendants.  Several  airline employees were fired for using Facebook to vent their feelings of disgust for passengers (who ultimately pay their salaries).  It is a sad example of the breakdown of  the type of customer service we used to expect.  But is it reasonable to expect them to keep their cool when they have to cope with drunken or badly-behaved passengers?  It seems to be an increasing problem.

If you feel you have been treated unfairly by an airline, or airline staff, where do you go to complain?  Who is going to stand up to the bullies for you?  From experiences of others that we have come across, it is useless to continue to demand satisfaction from an employee who is clearly not going to cooperate.  Take it to the person in charge above them, and if that fails the next step is usually to put the complaint in writing to the customer relations department of the airline.  Always make a note of the names of the people involved, the date, time, flight number, seat number, etc.  It is worth mentioning if you are a frequent flyer with the airline, and if the experience has left you feeling you will never fly with them again.  State how you would like to have the situation resolved to your satisfaction, whether a simple apology, or by compensation – free flights or mileage.  Always keep copies of anything you send; it can be useful to send a photocopy of your ticket, but never the original. 

If the airline has not responded within a reasonable time, send the letter again by registered post. If you are still not satisfied, the Air Transport users Council (AUC) may be able to help.  The AUC is the Consumer Watchdog for the Aviation Industry in the UK.  It can be helpful to have a look at the airline’s website under ‘General Conditions of Carriage’, sometimes known as ‘Contract of Carriage’ or similar.  If the treatment you received appears to violate their rules then use that information to support your letter of complaint. The Directgov website also has some helpful information regarding making a complaint about air services. 

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