No LUV on SWA

There is no longer an excuse to miss a daily blog because you are flying.

This can be both a good thing and a bad thing. Don’t you think?

I am sitting on another AA flight to visit an important probable purchaser. As I sit here I can’t help but think about my last flight.

My last flight was with the legendary SWA! Usually this no frills airline has team members who are friendly, fun and respectful.

Not on my last flight! I felt zero LUV.

After a company meeting in NY, I was flying with two colleagues back to beautiful San Diego on SWA.

Yes, once again my flight challenges have originated from Buffalo to Chicago, this time to Midway instead of O’Hare.

The common threads between the two stories of air abuse both involve an employee who put their needs above every customer on the flight.

The flight that required my jellyfish survival technique involved a flight attendant who was overzealous in observing safety precautions.

This SWA flight with no LUV and lots of aerosol was all about the sense of smell.

The bottom line is, it is never a good experience when the employee puts his or her needs above that of every other customer.

I have never before seen a flight attendant come running from the back of the cabin spraying an aerosol spray above the over head compartment of every single aisle on the plane.

As she was spraying this “air freshener” above every single aisle, all the passengers were looking around at each other coughing, blowing their noses and rubbing their eyes.

I took it upon myself to find out the purpose of her actions, as all my fellow passengers were appalled at the smell and the effects it was having on their senses.

The LUVLESS flight attendant was at the rear of the cabin, so I swam 22 rows backwards to ask her “Please tell me why you did that?”

Her replay was, “Because I am not going to smell someone passing gas in my workstation!”

I said, “I can appreciate that, but what you need to understand is every passenger’s eyes are watering and noses are burning because of what you sprayed. It was not a passenger passing gas but a baby filling her diaper. You pushed the mother aside to spray your aerosol into the air conditioning ducts of this brand new 737 when not one passenger was complaining.”

She said, “It is a completely natural organic product.”

I then asked, “May I please see the bottle?”

After reading the directions I said, “The proper dosage is two sprays for the same square footage as the cabin. You sprayed two pumps for every aisle, and not one passenger asked you to do that!”

She replied, “I don’t care. I am not going to smell that in my workplace.”

I said, “I understand you must smell some funky smells in doing your job. However, a baby cannot control when they are going to fill their diaper and 138 people do not need you making their decisions for them. With all due respect for the service that you and your airline provide, your jump seat sits directly across from the lavatory. The smell you experienced was nothing new and was contained in the back of the plane. You put your needs above every other passenger. That’s not LUV.”

P.S.

Approximately 90 minutes later when we were over Albuquerque, NM I had to re-enter her workstation. Let’s just say I gave her a little bit of her own medicine.

P. S. S.

When you take a guest or a passenger’s money you are buying their problems. Your job is to create a seamless, hassle free experience. I know you can’t make a long-term profit by forcing your passengers to go into the jellyfish survival mode.