Welcome, the game is ”find the train”

OK, we know you are a little tired after your journey, we know you are a little stressed when you arrive for the first time in a new location, we know that we must guide you. But Brussels Airport has chosen to entertain you. There are just enough signs indicating where the railway station is so they can point out that they have done their job. But there are not enough signs so you can relax, follow he signs and arrive. If you follow the signs, we will even send you over an underground parking, barely lighted and with a smell as if there was a rock concert here yesterday. It’s a well kept secret that you can reach the railway station from within the airport without going over this parking. We love to make it a little more excited for you. No thanks, happy we could make this different.

Welcome, we don’t accept your money.

Most airports I have been to, and there are a lot, have an automated system to distribute tickets for public transportation. One can pay with cash or the major credit cards. Instructions on the terminals, as well as indications to where these terminals are, have been done with very clear pictograms, and in most airports, staff will be present to assist travelers. In New York for example, you will find on any given day about 5 to 10 staff in any of the airtrain-stations, ready to assist travelers in a very friendly and efficient way.

Well, we give you the choice in Brussels: You can get in line for a ticket, there are two windows, but only one is open. You will be serviced by a person that is barely speaking English and that treats any of his customers like they are to stupid to be walking the face of the earth, let alone his train station. Or, you chose the (yep: 1!) automated terminal. But if you had hoped to pay by cash or credit card here, you can get in the queue for the angry man, as in Brussels International Airport, this terminal only takes the local debit cards (bancontact/mister cash) supported by the local banks.

Welcome, figure out where you must go yourself!

There is no staff here to help you, because in the minds of the Belgian Railroad you are able to figure out the information on the yellow paper sheets that you might or might not find in the stations. If you pick the wrong ones, you will be looking at the timetable for the weekend if you are here on a weekday. If you happen to ever come in Amsterdam-Schiphol, you will find a display with all locations and what trains will bring you there. We Belgians believe that this is an underestimation of your brainpower, and we turned it in a little quiz. Enjoy: you have one chance in three to end up on the right platform. Once you have gambled well here, get ready for Brussels North station, where hitting the right platform is one out of twelve. The pro circuit, as you can see.

Welcome, don’t carry to much stuff

When I travel, I do carry some luggage (that is, if the airlines are not losing it). In Brussels airport, the national railroads have decided not to install elevators (lifts) to the train platforms and to block access for trolleys on the stairs. So, welcome dear traveler with luggage. See how you get to the train. don’t count on us for helping you. We’ll be monitoring you trough the camera-circuit and deliver the best of your struggle with luggage on our youtube channel one day. But we are not trained, nor have the genuine helpfulness in us to resolve this…

Welcome, show your tickets please, you thief!

So you have loaded all the luggage on the escalator and by risking life and limbs, you have made it to the bottom of the stairs and are ready to enter the platform. You would have hoped so, but the NMBS/SNCB (national railroad company) thinks the queue and the stairs are not enough humiliating and annoying you. You will now be checked to have paid the extra fee to use these great accommodations. OK, you lost me, so let me explain. When the Belgian government, the airport management and the railroad company set together and figured out that there could be some people taking trains in the airport, they decided to charge a special fee (diabolo, nomen est omen) for all passengers boarding or leaving a train in this railway station. And in stead of providing staff to help customers buy tickets, they have send 4 of their most incompetent, unfriendly and unilingual staff (they can’t even say please in our local languages, let alone in yours…) to see that you are not cheating this extra fee for the great service you are receiving.

Welcome, learn Dutch, now!

Some train staff will, once on the train, explain their welcome, the procedures and the next stops in four languages. They do exist but are extremely are rare. But they are in breach of the Belgian Legal system that doesn’t permit them to use English in official communications. And they are not even supposed to speak English. But rest assured that the Belgian railroads are committed to deliver you first class (!) service when visiting our country… As the airport is part of the Flemish community, one is not supposed to speak another language.

Welcome, our architect hates you… and us…

The railway station has been built taking into account the mission that not one person should feel comfortable here. And they succeeded. But for those that would have a sense of comfort after all, staff has been doing some reconstruction works since this station opened. So if you can stand the looks, they give you the noise of drills… We are all equal here: let the wait for the train be unpleasant for all. Those of you that have had lounges or even just enough sitting space while waiting for a train, note that we do things different…

Note as well the absence of any staff once you are on the platforms. You are on your own now!

Welcome, we have classes on our trains!

OK, even if the crappy compartment you are entering in is the most dirty one you have ever seen, beware: if it has the number 1 in it, or a yellow line on the outside: you are in a first class compartment. No, they have no internet here, of power plugs, or clean seats, or friendly people. But it is different, so you pay more…

One of the staff I met on a train and with whom I discussed this issue, said to a set of tourists that she found on the 1st class with a 2nd class ticket: “You can stay if you pay” …

Welcome, don’t carry to much stuff (2)

The airport express baggage space...

Hey, after you have made it to the train, figured out that you are in the right class, you will find that this train, called airport express, has no room for luggage. The Belgian Railroad company must have been thinking that people coming to or leaving from an airport come there to visit the airport building itself, not to travel. So why provide trains that can accommodate all of your stuff? If you are lucky, you will even encounter one of their staff telling you that your luggage can not stand in the location where you put it, becoming deaf and ignorant when you ask where to put it…

Welcome, learn Dutch or French in 15 minutes!

So when you leave the airport, all of a sudden there is no information available in English anymore. Not on the signs, not in the announcements on the train. The man or women controlling your tickets is not supposed to speak English, but I must say that they have learned to explain that this is first class and that you should be in first in English. But explaining you what trains to change to get to your destination is part of the future learning program, if any.

Welcome, note that “express” is not fast

So this great train you are taking is called an Airport Express. That’s why they make it wait as long as possible in most stations it passes. If you happen to go to the airport and passes Leuven with this train, the “express” will stand still for about 10 minutes here. If the shop owners in Leuven would be able to serve coffee in under 10 minutes, you could have get some. Too bad.

Welcome, and enjoy your stay!

But, let this not  stop you from experiencing the great nation with no service: Belgium . The motto is: trek uw plan, tirez votre plan, help yourself.

If you would have hoped that NMBS/SNCB is reading these kinds of blogs and trying to improve, I must sadly inform you that this blog is not in a language their staff is supposed to understand…

Our last morning had the sadness of a near departure in it. The indian chef even managed in serving eggs benedict with a hollandaise that had failed. It felt like only a couple of days since we arrived in Auckland, and now the adventure came to an end (for this episode!). We loaded our luggage in the car, and went off for the Christchurch airport.

Computer says no…

If you ever would like to have a day filled with fun and joy at low expense, go and ask something at the people of Budget Rent A Car. Our agency had booked and prepayed our car with them. So when we entered it back, filled with gas and without any damage to the car, we were a little surprised to be presented with a bill. The amount to settle was rather limited, but still we felt like this was incorrect. The lady at the counter and her male colleague (presumebly a trainee) could not explain where the amount came from and went to see their supervisor. He/She (never seen that person, residing in a backoffice – if (s)he even existed) informed us via the agent that we had to pay and extra day, because we picked it up at 9 o clock in Auckland and it was now a couple of minutes over 9, and we had to pay the full day. But, as we had rented for a month, Budget would wave the extra day. Wooow, so we have had 10 minutes free use of the car, thank you gentle people… But now the agent had to correct the amount on the bill. So after a lot of frustration, we had 4 (yes, four) of these agents trying to correct an invoice. The system at Budget must be very solid in not giving money back. It took them another 15 minutes to get this sorted out and corrected. And it all is the computers fault sir. Yes, thank you and bye bye.

The scales

So, now that we got rid of our car, we could get our boarding passes. As we had four segments in front of us, with 3 different airlines, we could expect the worse. Especially as the first segment is with Air New Zealand, where the weight limites are stricter than with Cathay Pacific and British Airlines. Even after we shipped some of the stuff home by mail, we still had a lot with us. So we had a second supervisor-intervention in the same hour. Fortunately, here the pragmatic kiwi-spirit and the gentle customer-service of New Zealand Airlines guided the decision to accept all luggage. And on to security we were.

Much to our surprise, there was no queue at the security and we encountered agents that were doing their jobs correctly, but in a friendly way. I still wonder why the TSA in the USA has to make security such an unpleasant experience, when you see that most other nations enforce strict security on airplanes without being rude to passengers. The security people at this airport knew what delivering a service meant.

Since my last flight on Song Airlines, in 2007 or 2008, I did never enjoyed watching the security videos on airplanes anymore. But the people at Air NZ  have made thair movie with the national rugby team featuring in it. It’s the first security video that I went looking for on youtube (and found it!).

When arriving in Auckland and leaving the country, the friendly immigration officer sees our Belgian passports and strats discussing the victory of Kim Clijster in the Australian open.

The journey

1. Christchurch (CHC) – Auckland (AKL): 321 KM – 1h 20minutes
2. Auckland – Hong Kong (HKG): 9641 KM, 11h 20 min.
3. Hong Kong – London (LHR):  9124 KM, 13h 20 min.
4. London – Brussels (BRU): 349KM: 1h

A long journey, with lots of layovers. Thanks to frequent flyer status, we could use lounges and showers in Hong Kong, and thanks to Cathay Pacific for the inflight battle ship (zeeslag), that can be played by two passengers against each other. And may be one day, the people at FlightCare and Aviapartner will manage to get the luggage out and in the arrivals hall within half an hour. Now we had to wait 45 minutes – again!

The change

• Brussels was 30 degrees less than Christchurch. A t-shirt and a small jacket clearly could be considered as underdressed;
• After a month in clean air, we arrived in smog-alerted Belgium;

…but we were are happy to be home again! Now we can start saving and planning  for a new trip, not sure where we go next time however

PS: those of you that enjoyed my New Zealand travel journal: all my posts from the New Zealand travel are at http://blog.blanquart.be/category/vrije-tijd/travel/newzealand/

The pictures are on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kblanqua/sets/72157624945452856/

Althans, dat zou je denken als je de mail van Sodexo bekijkt, die ik vorige week binnenkreeg. Nadat een prestatie van onze poetsvrouw automatisch was goedgekeurd, kreeg ik een e-mailtje van Sodex, waarin onderaan staat: “U beschikt nu nog over 2 cheques”. Tijd om er 1 van de dagen eens bij te bestellen dacht ik.

Tot ik vandaag de dame van het bureau aan de lijn kreeg, of ik wel wist dat ik 12 cheques achter stond. Euhm, neen dus: ik heb er nog twee in de portefeuille. Klopt dus niet. Probeer even mee te volgen:

1. Er staan 2 cheques op onze account;
2. Onze poetsvrouw geeft haar uren via het voice-systeem van Sodexo door. Ze registreert 4 uur.
3. U verwacht dat onze rekening nu op –2 zou staan, of op 0, met een schuld van 2 cheques? Nope, het systeem stelt vast dat het aantal beschikbare cheques lager ligt dan het aantal aangeboden prestatieuren, en voert dus geen enkele transactie uit. Het systeem stuurt een mail met in de titel “automatische goedkeuring van prestaties” met onderin het aantal beschikbare cheques (nog steeds 2 dus…)
4. Hetzelfde gebeurt in de weken nadien, tot het agentschap, dat niet betaald werd, aan de alarmbel trekt en bovenstaande aan mij uitlegt.

Heren usability-experts: kan er iemand dit eens gaan uitleggen bij de lieve mensen van Sodexo? Zorg dat je een stevige mond Frans kent, want hun call-center heeft niet door dat er ook Nederlandstaligen van dit systeem gebruik zouden kunnen maken…

Ik had dus online een ticket gekocht en dat aan mijn identiteitskaart laten koppelen (eigenlijk dus aan mijn nationaal nummer, want een e-id lezer had ik niet nodig).  Een biljet van Tienen naar Mechelen, heen en terug.

Ik wist dat mijn trein op tijd  was, op zich al een goede start van mijn milieuvriendelijke wagenvrije dag. Tot ik vanuit Leuven op de trein naar Mechelen stap. Die trein was de laatste maal vernieuwd ten tijde van de Expo in Brussel, maar dat mag de pret niet bederven. Daarvoor hebben ze bij de NMBS namelijk een aantal speciaal uitgekozen treinbegeleiders. Over het algemeen zijn die conducteurs bijzonder vriendelijke mensen, die met de glimlach hun trein begeleiden. De mij toegewezen treinbegeleider voor dit traject hoorde tot een andere soort. Toen ik deze dame mijn identiteitskaart gaf en zij die in haar draagbare terminal had gestoken, begon ze te zuchten en te zweten. “Het werkt niet precies meneer, ik vind uw gegevens niet”. Ze wou eigenlijk zeggen dat haar terminal mijn kaart om een of andere reden niet kon lezen.

De rest van de coupe begon stilaan in mijn richting te kijken en zich te verkneukelen in het feit dat ze die avond aan hun achterkleinkinderen het verhaal konden vertellen van die “zwartrijder” die ze op de trein hadden zien betrapt worden…

Nadat ze – op mijn aanraden en na het definitief opbergen van haar glimlach – de kaart even uit het toestel had gehaald en opnieuw ingestoken, vond haar toestel dan toch de gegevens op chip in mijn kaart. Maar …  haar terminal liet haar het traject zien van Mechelen naar Tienen, niet van Tienen naar Mechelen: en dat was nu net de richting die we aan het uitrijden waren. Ze zag wel dat ik een biljet heen en terug had, dat wel mijnheer.

De bejaarde oren spitsten zich verder tot een niveau waar zelfs Mr. Spock zich overtroefd zou geweten hebben.

Dus begint die treinbegeleidster een hele uitleg dat ik in de problemen zou komen ‘s avonds, want dat zij het traject nu ging knippen. Euhm – dus uw systeem zegt uiteindelijk dat mijn ticket klopt, maar u bent niet in staat dat juist aan te duiden en daarom doet u het maar fout, wetende dat u mij daarmee in de problemen brengt? Ik voel eerder dat die treinbegeleider ‘s avonds een probleem gaat hebben en niet ik…  Zij vond de logica in mijn uitleg te ver boven haar petje, knipte mijn (verkeerde) traject virtueel en stapte door naar het volgende rijtuig.

‘s avonds had ik recht op een trein waarin de temperatuur nog hoger lag dan de 31 graden die het buiten was, waardoor treinbegeleiders liever vooraan bij de machinist zitten in de airco, dan ticketten na te kijken. Geen idee dus of het traject dus “geknipt” zou zijn geweest en of ik echt in de problemen zou zijn geraakt.

Een aantal vreemde vaststelling toch na deze dag:

• De NMBS verkoopt mij een ticket online, op basis van mijn rijksregisternummer. Ze controleert dat echter op basis van mijn identiteitskaart en het niet-functioneren van die kaart brengt de reiziger in de problemen. Zouden ze dan niet beter de werking van die kaart ook online controleren voor ze een ticket er op afleveren?
• Wanneer mijn vrouw en ik naar de film gaan, en daar elk twee uur in een comfortabele, goed gekoelde, netjes gereinigde zaal naar top-amusement kijken en daarbij dan nog een grote beker popcorn verzetten, zijn we net geen 18 Euro kwijt. Waarom moet deze reis in aftandse, niet-gekoelde wagens met personeel dat geen idee heeft wat een klant is, 19,8 Euro kosten?
• Mijn trein terug komt tijdig aan in Mechelen. Na het opstappen, horen we dat we 8 minuten gaan wachten op een trein die vertraging heeft. Sympathiek, echt wel. Maar dacht je dat ze in Leuven dan ook mijn aansluitende trein op ons hadden laten wachten? Oh neen dus.
• Wil er iemand bij de spoorwegen eens kijken wat klantvriendelijkheid betekend? Ik rijd graag met de trein in Nederland en de VS. Dat heeft minder te maken met hun infrastructuur, dan wel met het welkom-gevoel dat ze aan hun reizigers geven.

De volgende die mij dus komt vertellen dat ik mijn wagen moet op zij zetten en gaan werken met de trein, kan zijn energie beter in een andere goede zaak steken… Ik ben weer even af van mijn drang om nog eens met de trein te gaan – voor een paar weken toch.

Sinds vandaag is dat euvel opgelost en ben ik dus blij gaan rondkijken naar alle nieuwe features die ik als abonnee heb. En toen voel mijn oog op het zinnetje “Ik wenst mijn abonnement te hernieuwen…”, waarmee de online-redactie van De Standaard nu ook meedingt naar de DT-fout van het jaar:

The plan

OK, the plan: fairly simple. I have to be in Dublin for the weekend, for a residential course for my MBA. So, I book my flights in November last year. The plan is to fly from Brussels via London to Dublin on friday, and to get back on Sunday via the same route. Fairly simple. I book my tickets online and I’m ready.

Departure

When I arrive at Brussels, I see at entering the lobby that my flight to London has been cancelled. British Airways (BA), who should have been operating the flight, books me on a new flight with British Midlands (BD) and the problem is solved. When I open my british newspaper on the plane, it becomes obious why the flight has been cancelled in the first place: BA and the British Airport Authority (BAA) had opened a new terminal the day before. A superb website had announced the wonders of the world that would happen in this new terminal:

However, as the first flight came in, it turned out that the new terminals functioning had not properly been tested. A few hours after the first passengers arrived, the chaos was complete:

• parkings did not function properly
• staff could not log on to the computers
• the escalators did not work properly
• lifts were in permanent state of alarm or didn’t work at all
• etc…

BA could not do anything else then cancelling 63 (!) flights to and from London Heathrow. What was first called a start up issue, turned out to be a design-error in the concept and the systems at the terminal. So the cancellation of my flight to LHR the day after the opening of the terminal could have been predicted.

BMI brought me safe to Heathrow and I could wait in line to get my boarding pass for my flight with Air Lingus to Dublin. As soon as I had it, I was on my way to the gates. The absence of a hotspot in the last café before the air lingus gates and the fact that the terraces of BA at the Ireland-gates where closed, without even a sign posted to explain or apologise, were just more facts to show the great customer respect shown at Heathrow.

The flight with Air Lingus went smooth and I arrived as planned in Dublin.

The residential course was great. Met some very interesting people at the course, had a good evening out in Temple Bar and had some interesting new insights in the topics we covered.

Return

When checking in at Dublin on Sunday to get back home in Brussels, the the agent of Air Lingus had no knowledge of any cancellation of my flight from London Heathros (LHR) to Brussels (BRU), so she labelled my luggage for Brussels and handed me my boarding pass to London. When asked why she didn’t gave me my boarding pass for Brussels, she said something about the data not being in the system.

So I went passed security to the lounge in Dublin. I opened my laptop and checked on the BA-website for the whereabouts of my flight from London to Brussels. And off course, as I feared: the flight had been cancelled.

Unfortunattely, there is no BA ticketing after security in Dublin. So I started calling the callcenter of BA in Ireland. They didn’t even know that my flight was cancelled. So I had to tell them what data was available on their website. When asked to rebook me on another flight, they informed me that “the system didn’t allow the rebooking while it was confirmed with the other airline”. Fair enough, so I asked them to please confirm and get back to me, or even try to get me home on a direct flight with Air Lingus from Dublin to Brussels.

As I could only be helped by BA (the other airlines have no responsibility in getting me home, off course) I couldn’t do much more than wait on their phone call (that never came, by the way).

When arrived in London, I went to the ticketing desk to get status on the rebooking of my flight. As it turned out, they had not managed any other flight option for that night. So I could stay in a hotel near the airport. The gentlemen at the counter gave me the voucher for the hotel and for a meal. When asked on the whereabouts of my baggage, I was told not to worry: they would be kept by BA and be released as soon as I checked in for the flight to Brussels.

I next morning at 6 o’clock, I was present in the infamous terminal 5 and presented myself to the agent to check in. The friendly young man just started his shift. He soon found out that the keyboard-cardswiper at his desk was not working (hmm… hallo, as far as I know had that keyboard been installed less than a week ago…) so he had to change desks. After he had managed to get in the system and to check my data, the clock showed 06:22 and the flight had been closed. So he proposed to book me on another flight with British Midlands. The other option was a flight with BA at noon, so I was pleased to accept the BD-alternative. The agent had copied my data and luggage tag and I was on my way to the BD-desk in terminal 1. I checked in, and I was on my way. The agent at the terminals of British Miclands had already infomed me that my baggage would not travel with me. No problem, I would claim it with BA as soon asx I did get home. Little did I know at that time about the status of the baggage in Terminal 5 at that time.

Had a great flight with BD back to Brussels, next to a couple that just spent a month in South Africa. Back in Brussels, I headed to the office – half a day later than planned and less rested than after my average weekend…

Give me back my bag… please …

British Airways

In the office, I went online and claimed my bags with BA. Nice online system, entered the data and waited for any response.

And indeed, later that Monday, I received a mail from BA:

From: ba_baggage.reports ( at ) ba.com
Subject: Re: ba.com baggage file creation / XXXXXXXX

Dear Customer,
Thank you for contacting us with details of your delayed baggage.
Our system shows that your last traveled sector is with AER LINGUS airlines. You will need to contact your local AER LINGUS office for further details of your delayed bag.
PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL AS IT IS AN AUTOMATED RESPONSE.
Yours sincerely,
British Airways.

Air Lingus:

Hmm – hallo, my last segment being with Air Lingus, and what about my flight with BD? But OK, I would contact the friends at Air Lingus if they are the ones that can help me.

And after completing a word document (yes – no web form here) and sending it to Air Lingus, I received this automated message that shredded the last hope in a fast resolution:

—–Original Message—–
From: central baggage-tracing
Subject: Re: Luggage issue (Auto Respones)

Please be advised that it may take several days for messages to be processed, due to current backlogs.

Aer Lingus can not deal with queries regarding baggage reports made with other airlines.

This email address does not deal with anything other than baggage questionnaires, as such we cannot guarantee a reply for emails other than these questionnaires.

Kind Regards,

Aer Lingus

Central Baggage Tracing

Dublin Airport

Ireland

Now read that again: … several days … wooow. But, as the phone number of the baggage claim services is a very well guarded secret, I could only wait for some form of reply coming from this overasked, understaffed team at Air Lingus. And yes, this evening, just before getting ready to leave the office, a mail arrived:

From: central baggage-tracing
Subject: Re: Luggage issue

Dear Mr Koen

Thank you for your email. As British Midland was the last airline you travelled with on 31 March they are responsible for locating and delivering your missing luggage. You must file a report with them, if you have not already done so. Please direct all queries plus your baggage questionnaire to British Midland. This is standard airline policy regardless of whether you were originally booked with another airline e.g BA.

Regards

Aer Lingus,
Central Baggage Tracing,
Dublin Airport,
Ireland.

British Midland

OK, I start to see a pattern now. Let’s confirm that with British Midland. And to my surprise is there a listed phone number of a baggage claim department on the website of BMI. So I call the number in Brussels. I get transferred to a callcenter in India, where the agent tells me that they have no record of any baggage being handled to them in my name… And that I best take up this issue with Britisch Airways. Oh yes, I knew we would be able to close this circle.

I explain to this person that I have done that already and I explain him what is written above. He advises me then to go to brussels airport in person and talk to the various companies (so that should be BA, BMI and Air Lingus I suppose) to track my stuff. Oh yes, that’s just the kind of advise I needed: after I spent now several hours mailing and calling, going up in person and spend half a day at the airport to talk to those people that do not list their telephone number on their website.

Insurance

Fortunately, I remembered last Sunday that I have an insurance with American Express on these kind of events. Being a frequent traveller, those things come in handy sometimes. So I called the desk in Brussels of Amex and informed about my rights. The answer was a little sweetener of a very bitter expirience so far: both the cancellation of the flight and the delay/loss of my luggage are covered.

So I called American Express again yesterday, to find out that all they need is the tickets of purchases made (check!) proof of purchase of my original ticket with my american express card (check!) and a proof that my luggage is delayed by the airline. Hmmm… anyone has any idea where to go for this paper, as three airlines are involved, but none feels responsible?

By the way, when looking up some more data, I couldn’t help noticing this headline in Google News:

(translation: the move of British Airways to terminal 5 on london heathrow has been going without any major issues so far. The terminal that costed 5.6 Billion … )

hope to get home tomorrow… maybe…

Toen ik vandaag aan de operator zei dat ik dat moeilijk kon geloven, wist zij me te vertellen dat alle advisors aan de klanten zouden moeten vertellen dat dit zo is. Pech dus wanneer je advisor dat vergeet… Geen andere keuze dus dan mijn jaar verder uit te zitten.

Oh ja, en de leukste? Toen de vriendelijke advisor mijn opzeg (die binnen een dikke vier maanden ingaat) had genoteerd, vertelde ze me nog doodleuk dat ik best de dag nadien (dus de eerste dag waarop ik geen abonnee meer zou zijn) nog even terugbel  ”voor de zekerheid”. Ik herinner me niet dat iemand me belde toen ik ineens voor lange termijn klant werd van Prime, zelfs niet voor de zekerheid. 

PS: kan iemand eens aan de owners van het ticketbeheer-systeem van Telenet duidelijk maken dat een case-nummer als “CO80103326xxxx” nogal moeilijk noteert?
 

We all have values. This book is about making sure that we don’t forget about these values when we are doing our job. Let’s all care and have a little Fred in us..

This book is worth the reading.

Koen

The Fred Factor: How passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary

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Fred Factor

I’m back on my way to fly to another destination today. The trip leads us to London, where Gartner is hosting the yearly summit on collaboration, portals and content management.

Portals, Collaboration and Content Management

For an innovator and technology scout as me, Gartner is one of those opportunities to discuss parts of our research and the outputs we’ve received in the contacts with our customers over the past months.

All organisations have increased needs when it comes to collaboration, portals and alike. Most companies still struggle to keep up with the rapid changes in these fields. We’ve been very successful over the past years in building practices with customers, to deliver added value in collaboration to their customers, and this conference is one of the many reflection points to ensure that we are still on track.

I participated to this same conference last year and had some good updates there, so it is clear that expectations are high. I’ll keep you posted here and in our customers’ community.

The delay

The trip itself started with a strong delay in Brussels. While I am writing this blog, our British Airways Airbus 320 is parked on an outside stand on Brussels International Airport. When the plane was pushed back and the crew tried to release the plane from the small vehicle that pushed us back, it turned out to be impossible to disconnect the plane from the pole that makes the connection.

The head of the cabin crew announced that the best way to live this delay was by opening the bar. So the crew is now busy serving us a drink. The pilot announced that the engineers brought in the big hammers and it turns out that, if flight control is not dramatically changing our flight pattern, we will get to London with a little over an hour of delay.

It was a relief to be updated by the crew in such a consistent manner. We had an update from the flight deck on the status, planned actions and consequences to our timing. In the (literally) hundreds of thousands of air miles this year and the associated delays, this one could serve as an example to many other airline companies. To complete a tma (tutor marked assignment) for my MBA, I was looking for an example in customer service and see… delivered. (Dear people at BA, don’t see this as an invitation to have me live any more delays, even if I appreciate the care-taking)

I’ll enjoy my free drink, sit back and hope that I’ll be soon enjoying the journey!

Koen

Tags: travel,
BA,
British Airways,
technology,
flight,
delay
Customer friendly,