PlatKat.com: Dear Kat

American Airlines

Dear Miss Taylor:

We received your letter and were eager to send you a reply. Accordingly, I noticed the email address included in your letter and I have taken the liberty of responding to you electronically.

In spite of our best efforts to ensure our customers enjoy pleasant, trouble-free travel on American, there will be that inevitable occasion when there is a problem. We expect our personnel to be sympathetic, resourceful and flexible in resolving such unavoidable difficulties to our customers' satisfaction. I am sorry your and your colleague's experience departing Austin on March 11 was otherwise.

While we make every effort to ensure there are enough agents staffing our ticket counters, it is not always possible to forecast the number of customers who will need assistance -- especially when unexpected circumstances cause long lines. Unfortunately, as you experienced, there will be occasions when lines move slower than we would like, and our customers are inconvenienced.

Whenever possible, we try to obtain additional manpower -- either to help customers check in at the counter or to identify those customers whose flight times are fast approaching so they can be given priority. When these efforts are still not enough, we feel it is the responsibility of each customer to let us know if his scheduled departure is at hand and he is in danger of missing the flight. There is simply no way for us to know the itinerary of each person in line and act accordingly. Still, I apologize again for this undoubtedly frustrating experience.

The next time you travel, try our AA Self-Service Check-In device, located near the ticket counter in most of our domestic airports. The Self-Service Check-In allows electronic ticket holders to check in, select a seat, get a boarding pass, and proceed directly to the security checkpoint. Customers with bags to check can also use the Self-Service Check-In device, which prints bag tags that a dedicated agent will match to your bags. All in one quick, easy stop. For further information about these devices, please visit AA.com or contact us at 1-800-433-7300 (24hours/daily).

Nevertheless, there is simply no excuse for rudeness| Our customers should always experience polite service from our employees regardless of the circumstances. Your comments about the lack of courtesy you and Mr. Cruz experienced greatly concern me. I am truly sorry that we didn't live up to our usual high standards of customer service when you spoke with our supervisor.

When hiring employees who will serve our customers, we work hard to look for those applicants who demonstrate a warm and friendly attitude. Our training programs emphasize to all our employees, new and experienced alike, the importance of an individualized, caring approach even in the face of the unique difficulties that only an airline can experience. I'm at a loss to explain exactly why you weren't treated with courtesy, but I can assure you that your letter has been forwarded to our General Manager in Austin for review.

As a gesture of goodwill, I have added 5,000 bonus miles to each of your AAdvantage® accounts. This adjustment will be reflected in your accounts very soon.

Meeting the highest expectations of our customers is our primary goal. Your concerns and comments will assist us in reaching that objective. Please don't let this unhappy experience discourage you or your colleague from traveling with us again.

I hope you don't mind that I've sent my response via email. Please continue to send us your comments through any communication channel that is most convenient for you. However, we'll get to your feedback faster and respond more quickly if you contact us again via http://www.aa.com/customerrelations. This is an "outgoing only" email address. If you 'reply' to this message by simply selecting the reply button, we will not receive your additional comments.

Sincerely,

Angela W. Dean
Customer Relations
American Airlines

Dear Angela,
If you or AA had any sense at all, you would have taken whatever you get paid to write fluffy, meaningless letters and sent it to me in the form of travel vouchers. That way, AA breaks even, you don't spend time writing a letter that helps nothing, and I don't waste precious minutes of my life skimming it to see what you're going to give me for my trouble.
Kat

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