Let me wish all the readers "Happy-Valentine-Life"!
Considering "Valentine-Day" as a sub-set of "Valentine-Life", I believe the later is more long lasting than forgetting rest 364-days after 'the-day'.
Yesterday, I was cutting it too fine to reach Mumbai airport to take a 9 a.m. fight to Ahmadabad on a leading airline after an overnight travel from Hospet (south of India). (Thanks to Kingfisher Airlines that grew too fat and heavy not only to fly an airplane from Hubli to Mumbai but also to stay itself afloat above water.)
So I tried to tele-check-in. After 'press'ing '1-after-3-after-4-after-4' on my cell, I managed to hang-up in order to avoid the 'music(y)' noise that I didn't want to hear.
I re-performed the ritual to finally reach '(our) customer representative'. He regretted saying I (my Privilege-Card number) was not entitled for tele-check-in since I didn't hold 'at least a Silver card' (if not Gold or Platinum or whatever other metals were 'invented'). I hung up.
Since mobile-data-connectivity was poor and also I was in a hurry to take the bus to Mumbai, I requested my valentine (wife back in Mumbai) to web-check-in. She gave up after struggling for an hour while advising me to take Indigo flight next time.
"Why (Indigo)? They don't offer snacks (I kidded). Return flight is on Indigo anyway."
"You can take snacks in a restaurant but not flight. Do you know that it took less than 30-seconds to web-check-in on user-friendly screen of GoIndigo.in?"
She commonsensically seemed to tell me that 'function' comes before the 'aesthetic frills' that service providers offer. Ease in day-to-day operations that customers have to perform repetitively is important than one-time activity of marketing the so-called 'innovative' frills such as 'points' on 'partnership-cards', etc.
The suited-booted person sporting 'May I help you' badge entered PNR before the flight number and the screen did advance promptly although to reject the 'Privilege' holder's request to auto-check-in. I asked him if PNR was to be entered before the flight number then why the sequence on screen was not so?
He couldn't answer although he did try to convince saying "S-2 flights are not accepted" by the screen.
May be a software issue? Or may be I was really a fool not to know what S-2 was all about.
Finally, I had to settle in a long queue to fetch printed boarding card. The queue was getting jumped in spite of suited-booted traffic assistants (over five of them lost themselves in and around the queue) and with four check-desks functional. I requested one of them (who appeared to be senior) to organize the queue. He disappeared from the scene staring at me followed by a comment 'I-am-not-from-this-area'.
Lean proponents like me call such silo-behavior as 'throwing' responsibility 'over-the-wall'.
If the competition had already commodatised-web-check-in service provided FOC (free-of-cost) even to a first-time flyer, what kind of 'differentiated-privilege' the other airline thought it offered?
If no, there is something much more that one needs to find out.
There are organisations who do more with less. In fact, they are able to perform better with lesser resources.
For them more means sore!
Can-changing-thoughts-change-a-nation
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Considering "Valentine-Day" as a sub-set of "Valentine-Life", I believe the later is more long lasting than forgetting rest 364-days after 'the-day'.
Yesterday, I was cutting it too fine to reach Mumbai airport to take a 9 a.m. fight to Ahmadabad on a leading airline after an overnight travel from Hospet (south of India). (Thanks to Kingfisher Airlines that grew too fat and heavy not only to fly an airplane from Hubli to Mumbai but also to stay itself afloat above water.)
So I tried to tele-check-in. After 'press'ing '1-after-3-after-4-after-4' on my cell, I managed to hang-up in order to avoid the 'music(y)' noise that I didn't want to hear.
I re-performed the ritual to finally reach '(our) customer representative'. He regretted saying I (my Privilege-Card number) was not entitled for tele-check-in since I didn't hold 'at least a Silver card' (if not Gold or Platinum or whatever other metals were 'invented'). I hung up.
"Why (Indigo)? They don't offer snacks (I kidded). Return flight is on Indigo anyway."
"You can take snacks in a restaurant but not flight. Do you know that it took less than 30-seconds to web-check-in on user-friendly screen of GoIndigo.in?"
She commonsensically seemed to tell me that 'function' comes before the 'aesthetic frills' that service providers offer. Ease in day-to-day operations that customers have to perform repetitively is important than one-time activity of marketing the so-called 'innovative' frills such as 'points' on 'partnership-cards', etc.
She was right. First of all, at
the airport I got jammed in the traffic
right upto the entry to the hall. It was a chaos of both the 'departure' and
'arrival' traffic.
Once inside, this was followed by a jam in the queue to get
boarding pass so I went to an 'auto-check-in' terminal to get jammed again. I
tried to auto-check-in. I entered flight number before the PNR as in the
picture, but the screen would return back to 'start'. I tried a couple of times
like a fool before seeking help.
He couldn't answer although he did try to convince saying "S-2 flights are not accepted" by the screen.
May be a software issue? Or may be I was really a fool not to know what S-2 was all about.
Finally, I had to settle in a long queue to fetch printed boarding card. The queue was getting jumped in spite of suited-booted traffic assistants (over five of them lost themselves in and around the queue) and with four check-desks functional. I requested one of them (who appeared to be senior) to organize the queue. He disappeared from the scene staring at me followed by a comment 'I-am-not-from-this-area'.
Lean proponents like me call such silo-behavior as 'throwing' responsibility 'over-the-wall'.
Why so much fuss by an 'iron'-card holder like me when more privileged 'silver'-n-'gold' (holders) iron-pressed faces kept staring at the problem?
B---a---d habit of mining for simplistic answers to seemingly mysterious questions.
If the competition had already commodatised-web-check-in service provided FOC (free-of-cost) even to a first-time flyer, what kind of 'differentiated-privilege' the other airline thought it offered?
Technologies like tele-check-in, web-check-in, auto-check-in are anyway installed by the later allowing them to idle unlike the former. Why not put them in service of the planet if not for benefit of the customer. That's the bigger cause by saving associated costs of non-value work? In that case isn't it an extension of CSR (corporate social responsibility)?
Does suited-booted more-manpower, more-outsourcing, more stocks, more equipment and
more-technology mean improved KRAs such as more customer satisfaction, more
productivity, more quality, more cleanliness, lesser jams, lesser delays,
lesser damages, lesser breakdowns, faster deliveries and in general lesser crises?
For some I guess so!
If yes, I hope they are able to do more with more resources.
And I wish they do well in future.
And I wish they do well in future.
If no, there is something much more that one needs to find out.
There are organisations who do more with less. In fact, they are able to perform better with lesser resources.
For them more means sore!
Read a few relevant blogposts hereunder:
Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall
Take Habits For A Ride Can-changing-th
Do you exercise your choice meaningfully
Not-Soon, Says Monsoon
Rise-n-Fall in the Rain-Fall
nice post... liked the csr angle given by you..
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