Want Faster Airline Customer Service? Try Tweeting

i tried this with Apple. no response. glad to see some solutions by something for somebody , but this way of the world considerations for celebrities and those with followers is disheartening. great photography in the article though.

Would someone take pity on the older folk who were among the first road warriors? We are less likely to use twitter and certainly less likely to have e a big following, but we do fly and we do have miles we want to use to upgrade. I spent 6 hours on the phone trying to use Mileage Plus miles on a Star Alliance partner. The computer doesn't understand and 3 people gave me 3 different responses regarding an error message on the system. Can someone suggest what to do?

I don’t use Twitter. I pay the same as everyone else on AA where I have acquired about 850,000 miles total over the years It’s amazing to me that AA actually proudly admits others get better service than I simply because they communicate one way rather than another. Should I look elsewhere?

Twitter is probably the best mean to get your issue taken seriously no just in the airline industry but for any company that has twitter fingerprint. The response is ultrafast if your tweet gets retweeted by other customers that have suffered the same dreaful “treatment” as you from them.

When in the air, the Twitter option is extraordinary. Countless times, I have successfully resolved a potential issue (we are delayed en route—connection protection) ehich because of its fluidity may require three or four separate interactions over a period of time. The Twitter option with what I have now learned is coupled with more sophisticated AA software to follow the whole conversation works great. Twitter also works for quick questions to clarify policy matters or exceptions because I can show a counter or gate agent in writing what AA has told me. This is not a “wave” of the future. It is common business sense. As for the chimers effect, ranters exist—chimers exist. However that is not new—we have always known that those with the ability to influence the opinions of many will have rapider response.

Turkish Airlines made me unable to ever earn any more miles after I posted on their Facebook page that I was having problems getting my PIN to access their Miles and Smiles program. I was flying Business and Premium Economy between Istanbul and Tokyo 3 times a year plus numerous other star alliance flights. I’d get accrual notices after each flight but my balance never ever increased. I printed out my mileage accrued notices and my monthly account summary and showed it to Turkish Airlines staff in Istanbul, Paris, Rome, Tokyo, and everyone acknowledged that there was a problem with my balance and would contact Istanbul on my behalf as only Istanbul handled mileage issues. I was also told to contact customer service online which I did a dozen times but they responded with incoherent messages and never resolved the problem. At the end of our three year assignment we made an appointment and went to their corporate headquarters in Istanbul with a Turkish person but their response was once again to contact customer service online which I did but in vain. Over 150,000 miles accrued over 3 years has disappeared for good. My balance was never enough to take a long haul flight so I was only able to get a spa treatment at an Istanbul hotel yet to be claimed. My carry on luggage was ALWAYS weighed and I’d be charged for excess baggage FYI it’s maximum 8kgs. This would’ve never happened at any other Star Alliance airline. Turkish Airlines is one airline you don’t want to mess with

Direct messaging on Twitter gets results. Sometimes "public shaming" via a Tweet (instead of a DM) works even better.

Twitter might work for some airlines, but not British Airways. The issues I tweet out are answered in polite, but non-committal ways, leaving things unresolved and action-free. Highly unsatisfying. I suspect bots.

Disturbing that the number of Followers dictates who gets first help! And having 6 convos going at once--- what are we trying to do to one human being?

We tweeted when Zipcar messed up. They’re customer service is disgraceful and keen to avoid anything. Tweeting helped a bit.

just another way tech has failed us: we no longer are prioritized by the number of calls before ours, but rather the number of followers we have. thus, you now only matter as much as you can harm the reputation of the airline.

I realized this when, on a domestic flight in India on Air Asia, my wife and I were allotted seats on opposite ends of the plane, even though we had booked on the same PNR and adjacent seats were vacant. I was told that I would have to pay more if we wanted adjacent seats. While waiting to board the plane, I posted a scathing message on Facebook, asking the airline what logic their algorithm followed in allotting seats booked on the same PNR ; and whether this was just a ploy to garner business offering low fares in the first place and then extracting more money from them for adjacent seats - even when these were vacant. I didn't expect anything much to come of it. A short while later an airline staffer approached me, apologized profusely and said my wife and I could occupy any unoccupied seats. Once on the aircraft we were again approached by a crew member with the same message. I Methinks customers just have to stand for their rights and hit large, unethical corporates where it hurts most.

I had a problem with one of the Big Banks not long ago -- caused by their error -- and I sent many requests for help. They all were ignored. Then I discovered the firm monitored only Tweets for customer complaints. Why, I pondered. Youthful customers were a better bet for the long term? I'm not a Tweeter so I did what I knew. I wrote the CEO a respectful letter with attachments recounting the history of my issue. The response was immediate. So, for oldsters like me, there is an effective alternative to Tweeting.

Twitter absolutely works. I use it for praise - two incredible crew members on recent flights - and questions, issues. Reply is quicker on the questions/issues but they’re always glad to hear about the positive shout-outs and respond to those too. I even surprised a pilot of one of the legacy carriers, who is a close friend of mine, when I showed him how quickly I could get HIS airline to respond to me. Don’t take advantage of it for frivolous requests, use it for real problems/questions and they’ll help you out. Definitely, use it to send praise once in a while too - goes both ways, we get what we give.

While it's great that Twitter and Facebook help resolve travelers' problems, the reason it's more effective than other means has less to do with "social care," and more to do with fending off bad publicity and losing stock value. If customer service is the main motivation, and phone calls and emails aren't as efficient as tweeting, airlines could have direct online chat like other corporations. How would that be different than fielding "4,500 tweets per day"? More like "corporate care."

I had an issue with Delta, used Twitter, and the customer service response was fast and quickly resolved my issue. I think this is a great customer service tool, and kudos to Delta for the way they handled it.

Social media also worked on a refund of some train tickets in Amsterdam last August. My 85-year-old Aunt and I accidentally booked the wrong travel dates online. When we got to the station, we realized the tickets had the wrong date and purchased new tickets. We were told at the train station, because the tickets were purchased online, that’s where we would get a refund. Since the tickets are purchased for a week later, we had time to do it. A couple of days later, I started by calling the online number and was quickly told there was no refund. Then I did the chat option on the website which also amounted to a flat refusal to refund the money. When I saw the Facebook and Twitter icons on their website, I decided to post how difficult it was to get ticket refunds. I was quickly responded to on Facebook, and was told, while they normally don’t refund tickets, that our refund would be processed in about 8-10 weeks. It was!

If it's American Airlines, be assured there will be delays, in whatever they do. Not to mention rude service. Never fly AA.

"Chimers tend to follow those with big social media presences: TV stars and professional video game players and Instagram celebrities, she explained. She likes to take care of users with potential chimers quickly, she said, to avoid future problems." It's the end of civilization when ordinary customers with problems are deemed less worthy of attention than "professional video game players".

I've heard that customers get results with comments on Facebook. The half-dozen times I have tried to use a companies Facebook page, I haven't been able to find a way to post. I guess you have to be super savvy.

I discovered Twitter for lost luggage and for getting a wheelchair. I got money refunded due to a broken leg. It’s the best way to get problems taken care of!! I was sitting for 3 hours in Chile with a broken leg with no wheel chair. Needed the rest room. They sent a wheel chair !!